Kingdom Hearts RETOLD
by Skyler25
Summary: Your general Kingdom Hearts stuff...only Sora has a little sister! Please R&R! [RikoxOC, MUCH MUCH later on]
1. The Dream

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, related characters, trademarks, etc. in any way, shape, or form. How sad. BUT! I own Skyler. Yes, Skyler, you're stuck with me FOREVER! -evil grin- Skyler: NOOOOOOOOOOO!

A/N: Skyler is Sora's 10-year-old little sister.

P.S. Hey there loyal fans. Sorry I had to take it down for a while, but it had script -gasp- and that's not allowed. Sorry, but don't expect anymore script from me…I don't want to wind up like some of my friends….

P.P.S. Sorry friends!

--

"Skyler? What are you doing up there, Skyler?" called Mom. I was upstairs in my room.

I sighed. "What do you think, Mom?" I called back. "Homework! There's nothing else to do around here except homework! And it's July…."

"Where's Sora?"

"I'm in my room, Mom!" came Sora's voice from across the hall.

"Ok…well, you two just finish up your homework!" called Mom.

I sighed and looked at my next math problem.

127 is 48 of .

After setting up the proportion, I stopped. Sighing again, I got up. "I gotta get outta here…"

Walking quietly across the hall, I knocked on Sora's door. He let me in.

"Sora," I said, flopping down on his bed, "We have to get off this puny little island!"

"Why?" he asked, leafing through "Ninth Grade Science," his science textbook. "We've got everything we need here, plus more."

"Yeah, but there's nothing to do here! Everyday it's the same old stuff. Eat, drink, sleep, beat up Tidus."

Tidus was another boy who lived on Destiny Island. Despite being three years older than me, he…how can I put this? He had a crush on me. So I beat him up. Frankly, I didn't like him.

"Well..." said Sora carefully. "Go talk to Riku about it." Riku and Sora were best friends, along with another girl named Kairi. Obviously, he couldn't be bothered.

"Fine…" I left his room and began my decent down a flight of stairs.

"Ahem!" greeted my mother.

"Hi, Mom."

"Just where do you think you are going young lady?"

"Well, I was just going over to see Riku…"

"YOU HAVE HOMEWORK!"

"Ok…ok…" I backed up the stairs and into my room.

"And don't even touch that phone!" I heard my mother scream.

I didn't. Instead, I opened my bedroom window. I looked down. It was too far to jump. Concentrating hard, I jumped onto the windowsill.

Now thinking back on this incident, I've realized that what I did was kind of stupid. From the windowsill, I leaped to a tree and hung from a branch. I began to climb down from the tree. However, when I was hanging about ten feet from the ground, the branch I was holding snapped and I went down with it. The last thing I remember about that incident was a lot of pain, someone yelling "Hey!" and then total blackness.

--

And then the dream. I think this is where my adventure began. In the dream, I was standing on a circular platform. I heard a voice say "So much to do…So little time. Take your time. Don't be afraid."

"What do you expect!" I screamed back. "I'm standing on a platform in the middle of nowhere talking to a disembodied voice! And you say, 'Don't be afraid'?"

I heard a chuckle, and then four smaller square platforms rose up out of the "ground." "Choose well…"

Hovering above the platforms were shiny balls, each one a different color. There was a blackish-purple one, a pink one, a golden one, and a purely white one. I examined every single one.

As I approached the blackish-purple ball, the voice spoke again, describing it. As I held it in my hands, I have to admit I was a little scared. The amount of power it was emitting…it was frightening.

"The power of darkness. Ultimate power. The quest for complete control."

"No thanks…not really my thing…" That was more of….Riku's thing? No…Riku wasn't like that…was he?

I moved on to the pink one. The voice spoke yet again.

"The power of love. A gentle touch. The quest for harmony and peace."

"No…not really my kind of thing either." That was Kairi's thing, for sure.

Next came the golden one.

"The power of light. Heroic bravery. The quest for glory and fame."

"No….I guess not." That was kind of like Sora.

Lastly I approached the white one.

"The power of difference. Amazing adapting skills. Maybe a quest, maybe not."

"Ok! That sounds cool!" Besides, it was my last choice.

"You chose this power?"

"Um, well, yeah!"

The white ball felt good in my hands. Then suddenly it split into two shiny white balls that looked a bit like white rays of sunshine and flew around me in circles before disappearing.

"Now, what will you give up in exchange?"

Immediately I dashed over to the blackish-purple one, but stopped a foot away from it. "That one," I said, pointing. I didn't want to get near it.

The black ball disappeared into a flash of dark light.

"Now, tell me more about yourself…."

A huge light engulfed the platform and I couldn't see. When I could finally open my eyes, I was back on the islet that Sora and I played on. It was the balcony of a sort of huge treehouse. With me were Tidus and two other children from our island, Wakka and Selphie.

As I walked over to Selphie, she asked me the most un-Selphie question. "What's most important to you?"

"Are you feeling ok?" I asked back.

"Just answer me." She was firm.

"Ok…um…friendship." I would never give up my friends.

"Friendship? Is that really such a big deal?" She seemed to be provoking me.

"I wouldn't have chose it if it wasn't a big deal! SHEESH!"

Next I meandered over to Wakka. "What do you want outta life?"

"Huh?" People were acting weird today.

"You heard me." He was also firm.

"Well…I guess I wanna be strong…But…you should go home and get some rest."

He ignored my last remark. "To be strong, eh?"

Lastly, and with an angry expression on my face, I approached Tidus. "Ok, I see you've been waiting for me. What do you want?"

Tidus blushed a deep red, but asked his question anyway. "What are you afraid of?"

"Huh?"

Blush.

"Being indecisive. But…why do you wanna know?"

He blushed again and said, "Is being indecisive really so scary?"

"You wanna know scary?" I asked him, getting ready to punch. But then, the voice spoke, and apparently saved Tidus's hide.

"You want friendship. "You want to be strong. You're afraid of being indecisive."

"Yeah…"

"Your adventure begins at dusk-"

"Dusk! I don't want dusk! Dawn! Give me dawn."

"Very well. Your adventure begins at dawn. As long as the sun is shining, your journey should be a pleasant one."

"That's better. Ok, sure."

"The day you will play with reality is both far off and very near."

"Play with reality? Why? I like reality just the way it is." Except for maybe a few things.

Then I was suddenly back on the circular platform. Little black creatures popped out of the ground. They were entirely black…except for their glowing yellow eyes. Creepy, if you ask me.

The two white balls of light appeared at my side. "Think of a weapon…" said the voice. "Any weapon."

A weapon… I thought. Ok…um…um…a sword!

I found myself holding my arm out to the side. The two white balls of light began to circle my arm. They became gradually faster, until they were so fast they blurred together and there was a flash of blinding light.

When I could open my eyes, I was holding a sword in my hand. While marveling at the sword, I forgot about the black things…that is, until I felt a scratch on my arm.

Out of pure reflex (is that good grammar?), I began slashing blindly at the black things. Soon they were all gone, and there was another flash of bright light as the weapon disappeared from my hands and separated again into the two balls of light.

"Good, you got it faster than I expected you to."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

A chuckle, then a pathway appeared. I ran up the pathway onto yet another circular platform.

On the platform,a great light appeared from the ceiling. I was drawn to it, mostly out of curiosity.

"Thecloser you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes."

"Huh?"

I looked behind me, and observed my shadow. Yep, pretty big. Almost life-size…

Then it began to rise out of the ground. Startled, I stepped backwards. It was an exact twin of me, only…it was all black. And its eyes were two different colors. One red, one black.

"But don't be afraid," came the voice as my "shadow twin" (cheesy name, I know, but can we just call it that for now?) summoned the two dark balls of…well, of darkness that I had refused.

"And don't forget," the voice continued as I backed away from my "shadow twin" (man…that is just SO cheesy). She/it summoned a sword like mine, only completely black.

"Don't forget what?" I called back as my "twin" swung at me and missed. But the voice didn't answer. I had to fend for myself. Summoning my sword, I prepared for a long fight.

It wasn't all that long, actually. My "twin" kept swinging and missing, mostly because I was leaping out of the way. "No! Keep away from me!"

After an awful lot of swinging and missing, I decided I had to make a move. I swung at her/it with my sword and hit my "twin" good and hard. Now angry, my twin began swinging blindly at me.

Her/its blind swinging knocked me backwards and I fell. The sword disappeared from my hand, and the balls of light were nowhere to be found. I scooted backwards as my "twin" advanced.

Then a dark hole appeared below me, and as I began to sink in it, the voice spoke again, finishing its sentence.

"But don't be afraid…"

"Wait! Who are you? Can you help me?"

It ignored my plea for help. The black hole continued to swallow me up. My twin was preparing to whack me. "You hold one of the mightiest weapons of all."

"What do you mean? Those little light things disappeared! Please come help me…"

It ignored me again. The black hole began to swallow me head, and my twin was bringing her/its sword down. "So don't forget," the voice continued.

"No! Wait! Please!" This was the first time in my life I had every pleaded so earnestly.

Still ignoring me (as you might have guessed), the voice continued. I was almost completely submerged in the black hole, and my twin's sword was two inches away from my nose. Just as my twin's sword hit me and I was completely submerged, I heard the voice say, "You are the one who will control reality."

--

Well, this is where the script used to be. BEHOLD THE SITE OF THE SCRIPT! o.O Anyway, sorry, but I'm a law-abiding person….so….no more script. And it was so good too…sorry.


	2. The Island

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, related characters, trademarks, etc. in any way, shape, or form…Haven't we been here already?

Ok, next chapter. You'd better review it or I'll set my evil coconuts on you.

Also, one thing. There has been some confusion among my loyal fans about how to search for me. When searching for my penname, type in Styla, not Skyler25. Styla was my old penname, and now I hate it so I changed it. However, Fanfiction (which I do not own) punished me by keeping it Styla. So just search Styla and click on Skyler25. Kapeesh?

--

I awoke to find myself on a sofa. It wasn't my sofa, though. I sat up and looked to my right. Sora, Riku, and Kairi were sitting at a table eating dinner.

Dinner? How could it be dinner? When I had jumped out the window, it had been lunch time. How long was I out?

Kairi was the first one to notice I was up. "Hey, you guys, she's not dead!" She got up and ran over to me. Riku got up too. Then Sora (after stuffing mass quantities of pasta into his mouth) came.

"What were you thinking!" demanded Riku.

"Yeah!" said Sora. "If Riku hadn't seen you fall from that tree, you'd be dead now!"

--

_Flashback: Riku is walking home carrying two very heavy-looking bags of groceries. Then he sees Skyler hanging from the tree. Riku shouts "Hey!" and chases after her, dropping the groceries. Skyler screams and falls.. _

--

"But…wait…" I said thoughtfully. "Didn't I get swallowed up by a black hole or something?"

Riku laughed and ruffled my extremely flat long hair. "You must've been dreaming. Seems you had a nightmare."

Kairi swiftly scolded him. "She rammed her head on concrete. You're lucky she's not in a coma!"

"I rammed my head…" I felt the part of my head that I had hit. On it was a huge bandage. "How long was I sleeping?"

"Six hours," replied Riku. "Six LONG hours. Sora wouldn't stop playing my PS2, and he made me play a 2-player racing game with him."

"Riku won…" Sora added sullenly.

"Yeah," said Kairi apologetically. "Now the score is 58 to 6."

--

_Flashback: Riku and Sora are sitting in front of a TV playing a PS2. "See? I beat you again. Can we stop now?" suggests Riku. "Um…No!" announces Sora. "I will beat you, I swear!" Riku sighs._

--

" Fifty-eight to six?" I asked. "Since when did he-" I pointed to Sora "-win six times?"

"He didn't. Every time they tied (which wasn't often) Riku gave a point to Sora because his score was getting so low."

"We'd better be going!" said Sora hurriedly. "Thanks for saving my sister, Riku."

"Um…anytime," Riku said unsurely.

As soon as Sora and Kairi were out the door, I asked Riku what I wanted to ask him.

"Riku, have you ever thought of leaving this island?"

"Leaving it? No…not really. Interesting idea, though…"

"Yeah…it's just that we get so much homework here…" I glanced over to an open book on his table. "Tenth Grade Spanish." Poor tortured soul.

"Hmm…that's an interesting thought. I'll sleep on it and call you in the morning."

"Hey, Skyler!" came Sora's voice from far away. "Come on! You gotta get back to "Fifth Grade Mathematics…And I gotta finish "Ninth Grade Science…"

"Bye, Riku!" I called as I rushed out into the…pouring rain? It never rained on Destiny Island…Oh well. As soon as I was far enough from Riku's house, I gave an excited shriek. Riku was going to call me!

--

The next morning I woke up to the sound of a telephone blasting in my ear at 7:00am. Getting up and yawning, I reached for the telephone.

"Hello?" I said sleepily.

"Hey! Skyler! Is Sora there?" It was Riku. He was quite energized this morning…this EARLY morning…

"Riku," I said, still tired. "It's 7:00am. Sora's going to be sleeping for another four hours. Can he call you back later?"

"No. I need to speak to him now. You see, you gave me a great idea last night. Can you wake him up and meet me at my house in 10 minutes? Really? Great, thanks, bye!"

I had never agreed to meeting him. "Riku, I never said I could-" I realized he had hung up "-come…"

Despite having a small crush on Riku, I was often angry at him. I never stayed angry at him for long, though. I woke Sora. When he dressed, we left for Riku's.

--

"Ok!" said Riku. Sora and I were sitting around his table, along with a sleepy-looking Kairi. "I propose that we build a raft and sail off this island!"

"What!" I said, slamming the Coke that I had been drinking on the table. It began to fizz insanely. I shrieked, then rushed for some napkins.

"Well, that's a good idea," said Kairi, "But we're going to have to pack a lot. What if we get lost at sea?"

"That won't happen," Riku assured her. "So, it seems I haveone vote for yes. Skyler, how about you?"

"Well, I don't know…"

"Please…"

"Oh, fine!"

"Ok!" said Riku excitedly. "Sora, if you were going to say no, you're out voted! We're building a raft!"

Sora groaned. It was way too early for him. He had lost 4 hours of sleep, and there were huge bags under his eyes.

"Don't worry, Sora!" Riku said. "We can make building it fun! How about a race to get the logs?"

"A race?" Sora was suddenly wide awake. I grinned and shook my head.

"And Skyler, how about we race to get the coconuts?"

"You're on!" I never turned down a race.

"And Kairi, one of the logs is on the outcrop with the paupu tree is. Maybe we could share one on the way back."

"Hey!" yelled Sora. "Watch it!"

He laughed. "I'm just kidding…"

"It's not funny!" Sora insisted. Riku laughed again and we set out to collect the materials.

--

"Ok!" said Kairi. "Ready…set…go!"

Sora and Riku took off, kicking up sand as they went. I coughed. "Couldn't they start out a little slower?"

Kairi laughed and followed after them, giggling. I scrambled after her.

Sora and Riku were approaching the first log. Screaming, Sora dived for the log.

"I GOT IT!" he cried. He landed inches away from it. Riku picked it up. Sora slowly pulled himself up, spitting out sand as he stood.

"Now it's…59 to…six," he panted. "C'mon…next log…I'll win."

I walked over to him. "Haven't you ever considered giving up? Riku kills you every time."

"No…I never…give up." He caught his breath. "Riku! One more round!"

"We can't do that," Riku said, laughing. "We got all the logs. Except for the one on the outcrop, and Kairi and I are getting that."

"No!" Sora insisted. "Let's race for that one. C'mon!"

Riku sighed. "Fine…you ready?"

"You bet!"

Kairi started the race. "Ready, set, go!" They took off.

--

"Hey, Skyler." It was Riku.

"Yeah?"

"Ready to get the coconuts?"

"Ok, sure!"

Riku pointed. "That tree. Over there, with the seagull egg on top. You ready?"

"Yep! Ready…set…GO!"

As we took off for the tree, I heard Sora screaming. "GO, SKYLER, GO! YOU CAN BEAT HIM IF YOU TRY! NO! GO LEFT! LEEEEFFFTTTT! TAKE THE SHORT ROUTE! THE SHORT ONE!"

Taking his advice, I turned left and swiveled around Riku. Jumping up, I grabbed the edge of a small hut's roofand lifted myself up. From there, I leaped off and grabbed the trunk of the tree. Scooting up, I finally grabbed a leaf.

You probably guessed this would happen. I was hanging by a leaf, and like all leaves, it was flimsy. It broke, and I fell.

--

Everything blacked out. When I woke up, I was in Riku's house. Sora was standing over me.

"I can't believe you fell! AGAIN. Jeez, stop doing this to your self!" he screamed.

"Hey, that's your little sister! 'Nice' is the key word here," said Kairi.

"Well, we finished the raft while you were sleeping," Riku said. "We set sail tomorrow!"

"Really?" I was excited. "I can't wait!"

"Well, go home and get some rest. And stop hitting your head."

--

As I lay awake in bed that night, thinking about the raft, I realized what was so strange about the dream I had.

There were two of me. The first Skyler was me, the one telling you this story. The other Skyler was the one who was always in my dreams. She/it could be any age. My dream self could relive my memories or live through something that the real me made up. She could even live through something far beyond my imagination.

That's when it hit me. I realized that the reason the dream felt so real was because _my dream self wasn't there._ It was the real me. _I_ was in my dream, not the other me. In other words, _it really happened._

The words echoed through my mind. _It really happened._ It was all real. The voice, the balls, the dark me…

"Skyler! Sora! Dinner!" Mom's voice broke my thoughts.

"Coming!"

I met Sora downstairs, in the dining room. As we were sitting there, contentedly shoveling down mass quantities of pasta, the room suddenly gave a violent shake.

"Skyler, don't kick the table," Mom scolded.

"It wasn't me!" I yelled back. The room shook again.

"Skyler!" My mother's scolding was harsh.

"Well, if it wasn't you, who was it? Sora?"

"Mom! Why would _I_ kick the table?" was Sora's angry response. Then he looked out the window, behind my mother and me.

"Um mom can I be excused thanks bye be back soon," he said hurriedly as he pushed himself up and dashed out the door."

Mom turned to me. "Would you please go get him?"

"Ok, Mom." The room shook again as I was getting up.

"IF YOU KICK THE TABLE ONE MORE TIME YOU ARE GROUNDED!" she screamed at me.

But I was already out of the house. Looking up, I did not see the normal starry sky. Instead, there was a huge, black hole sucking things in. I looked around, and then saw Sora.

"Sora!" I called out to him, begging him to slow down.

"Skyler?"

"Wait up! I'm coming too!" Where were we going anyway?

"Ok. Hey, it's Riku! Over there on the islet!"

--

"The door…has opened," muttered Riku as we approached the islet.

"Huh?" said Sora.

"The door has opened, Sora!" said Riku, as if it were the most obvious thing, which it wasn't.

"Is that a good thing?" I asked.

"Now we can go to other worlds! We won't need that tiny little raft!" Riku insisted.

"But what about Kairi?" demanded Sora.

"She's coming too!"

"No…no…never mind," I said hurriedly. "Let's leave without Kairi, please?" I was not a Kairi fan. Purple/pink/red hair was not her color.

"This is a one way trip," announced Riku. "Once we step through, we may never be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. But I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

A world without parents, I thought. Yay.

A black hole engulfed Riku and began to swallow him up. He held out his hand so we could come too. But from the experience in my dream, I knew that black holes- especially ones like those- were NOT good.

I leaped at Riku to push him out of the black hole. As I was nearing him, there was a flash of blinding light. I felt funny for a second, like I was going through something, then I hit a tree.

I had gone right through Riku. Or, maybe he had just disappeared.

HOLD ON. RIKU DISAPPEARED?

"Sora," I said slowly, turning to him. "Where did Riku go?"

But he didn't answer. He was observing a giant key that had appeared in his hand.

"Keyblade," said the voice from my dream several times. "Keyblade…"

"Sora…" I was uneasy. "What's that…?"

"The…Keyblade?" he took a guess.

We had no further time to chat, as suddenly the black creatures from my dream popped up out of the ground.

"FROM MY DREAM!" Sora and I screamed together.

We glanced at each other, then at the thing.

"Well, what do we do?" I asked in distress.

"I'm your older brother!" he said proudly. "I can handle it. Stay back!"

While Sora was slashing away at the things, I noticed a glimmer of light floating next to me. It was the light balls from my dream. I shrieked. Sora looked up to see what was wrong.

Upon seeing his sister in "danger", Sora thrust the giant key at the light balls. They immediately turned into ropes and tied him to a tree.

"Hey!" I said. "Let him go!" They let him go. "Um…thanks."

I began to run down the bridge, beckoning Sora to follow. He thought otherwise.

"You'll need a weapon," he said, swinging the giant key heroically.

I began to think of what kind of weapon I would like. A sword, like in my dream? A shield? A staff? Or…a key just like my brother's? Yeah, that's it.

I held my arm out to the side. The two balls swarmed around my arm, eventually getting so fast they blurred together and there was a flash of light. Voila, a giant key.

"How did you know to do THAT!" Sora demanded.

"I did it in my dream," I replied, and we started out for a little cave, the walls of which were filled with countless doodles that Sora and Kairi had drawn.

It was no longer a cave. Its entrance was replaced by…a door.


	3. Traverse Town

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, related characters, trademarks, etc. in any way, shape or form. Skyler is mine, though. So is Skyler's dark side, the Chibbis, the Evil Chibbis, the weird balls of light and the weird balls of dark light.

So…yay, next chapter. By the way, I was thinking about the last chapter. I don't own Sony (the maker of PS2s) but, I own my own PS2…wow, that was confusing. I think you'd better sit back, relax, and enjoy another chapter of Kingdom Hearts: RETOLD!

--

"Kairi!" exclaimed Sora as we entered through the new door and walked into the cave. Kairi was standing in front of another mysterious door with no knob that had always been in the cave.

"Sora," she whined mournfully as she turned to him.

"What's up with you, lady?" I demanded. It wasn't like Kairi to be mournful.

Just then, the door behind her burst open, sending out a dark and powerful burst of energy. Kairi was thrust forward towards Sora.

Sora put his arms out to catch her, but she flew right through him. We were then blown out of the cave and thrown upon the sand.

Sora looked down. The island had broken into pieces. We were on top ofone piece of the island, and it was floating upward through the sky!

"Sora!" I screamed out. I was dangling from the edge of the floating piece of island.

He stood up and ran to me, but he was too late. I was blown off the floating island and onto another piece. Sora screamed to me, then turned around and rushed to the center of the piece he was floating on, his giant key ready for battle.

--

Still dazed, I looked behind me. Then, I heard a cold, cruel voice.

"Evening, Skyler."

My head whirled to the side. It was my dark self, with the different color eyes. She had a black version of the key in her hand. My copy of the key was still with me.

"I hope you enjoy your plunge into everlasting darkness," my dark side sneered, then swung at me. I rolled out of the way.

We continued fighting in this manner (she swings, I dodge) until I was at the edge of our piece of island.

"What do you want from me?" I demanded.

She smirked an evil smirk. "Your heart," she finally concluded, and began to bring her key down.

Please, someone help me, I prayed silently. My prayer was answered. There was a blinding flash of light, and suddenly a pink thing appeared in front of me. A…Chibbi?

A Chibbi was a pink creature made out of pom-poms and gems that I made one day in Art Class. How was it alive?

Then I realized how. The balls of light had saved me by taking the good-luck Chibbi in my pocket and making it comealive.

The Chibbi had an angry expression on its face. "Chibbi!" it announced before clamping its eyes shut. There was a blinding flash of light, and my dark side was thrown back.

My dark side was pushed back to the edge of the piece of island. "So, Skyler," she taunted. "That's the way you wanna play, is it?"

There was a flash of dark light and what I now call an Evil Chibbi appeared. It was exactly like mine, only it was darker, and it had horns. It too said "Chibbi!" and began fighting mine with dark flashes of light.

My Chibbi fought back with a flash of bright light. The Evil Chibbi flashed more dark light. The battle went on in this manner until the Evil Chibbi had been pushed close to my dark side. My Chibbi gave a final flash of light and the Evil Chibbi disappeared. Then it gave a flash of light to my dark side, and she began to fall backwards.

"You'll pay, for this Skyler!" she yelled at me, continuing to lose her balance. "You can't escape from me! I'm too powerful! Every time your power grows, mine does too! I'm inside you, Skyler! I'M INSIDE YOU!"

With that, she screamed and toppled off the piece of island. I picked up my Chibbi, which had lifelessly dropped to the floor and was getting slightly buried by the sand. "Maybe you really are good luck," I told it, and slipped it back into my pocket.

--

"Skyler!" I heard another voice. But this one didn't belong to my dark side. It was…Sora.

Sora jumped down from his piece of island and landed next to me. The site of someone so familiar felt so good. I burst into tears and fell into his arms.

The black hole in the sky was giving off a huge burst of energy. "Sora!" I screamed, scared. I gripped him tightly.

He grabbed my hand tightly and together we sailed into the black hole, both of us screaming.

--

I awoke to warm breath blowing in my face. I slowly opened my eyes to the sight of…a dog!

The dog was licking Sora's face with gusto. Sora was slowly awakening. He groaned, then opened his eyes. "What a dream…" he mumbled.

The dog pounced on him. "This isn't a dream!" he realized. He slowly stood up and looked around, helping me up too. I clung to him like a parasite.

"Where are we?" he asked no one in particular. Maybe it was me. Maybe it was himself. Maybe it was the dog.

"Do you know where we are?" he asked the dog. The dog nodded, but then perked an ear, turned and ran off.

We were in an alleyway. I clung to Sora as we madeour way into the main part of the city…or town. Wherever we were.

"This is totally weird," Sora mumbled as we approached the city. "We're in another world!"

"You just realized that?" I asked him. He nodded slowly, then looked around.

"We should explore a little," I suggested, and he nodded again.

We wandered all over the place, including an accessory shop, where we met a grumpy but kind man named Cid. He explained that we were in Traverse Town, and that he would look out for us.

We continued on our exploration until we came upon the door to the Second District. When we walked out, we saw a man running quickly down the street. I tried to stop him.

"Hey, excuse me sir," I began, but he wasn't listening. He fell, and a bright light emanated from his chest. A heart came out and was sucked into a dark portal, which disappeared soon after collecting the heart.

Then one of those black things appeared, only it was in armor. It shuddered slightly, and then disappeared. Sora charged out to the middle of the balcony, dragging me behind. We stood for a moment, observing the view, and Sora asked me a question.

"Skyler?"

"Mm?"

"Do you think we'll ever see our friends again?"

"Sora…I-"

The black things suddenly rose out of the ground. Sora readied his giant key and I made mine appear.

I attacked the things on the right. Sora got the ones on the left. Finally, after much slashing, one thing remained. Sora and I both brought our keys down at the same time, and it bursts into several pieces of munny.

Sora picked up the munny and we continued on our way, stopping at a hotel, a gizmo shop, and anelegant house where two Dalmatians lived, each time encountering and battlingthe things.

Finally, we made our way to the Third District. There wasn't much here except more of the black things, so we made our way back to the First District.

"So Skyler," Sora asked me as we walked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we'll ever see them again? Our friends, I mean."

"Sora…" The truth was that I didn't know. "Sora," I began again. "I think…yes."

"Really?"

"Really."

--

The First District was overrun with black things. We slashed at them blindly, all the while looking for some refuge.

"Quick!" yelled Sora. "The Accessory Shop!"

We dashed inside and huddled together. The noise outside soonfaded awayas the black things passed.

"Do you think we should go?" I asked Sora.

"I'm not sure. Let's try."

We ventured outside and were greeted (sort of) by a man with long brown hair.

"They'll come at you out of nowhere," he said softly.

"Who are you?" demanded Sora, shoving me behind him.

"And they'll keep on coming at you," he continued, ignoring Sora's remark, "as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade."

He pointed to Sora's weapon.

He seemed suddenly disappointed and confused. "But why?" he asked the air. "Why would it choose a kid like you?"

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded. Sora readied his Keyblade.

"Never mind," scoffed the man. "Now, let's see that Keyblade…"

"What?" Sora yelled back. "There's no way you're getting this!"

"Alright, have it your way." The man took out a huge sword that was half gun, half sword. He pointed it at Sora.

Sora charged into battle. The man fought by swinging his sword and shooting fireballs. Sora whacked him with the giant key…the Keyblade?

Sora was the ultimate victor. He staggered slightly, tired, then collapsed, revealing me. I had been hiding behind his back the whole time.

"Hey, you found it. Nice going, Leon," said a pretty girl who had just appeared beside him.

"Yeah," he said calmly, "but what do we do with that girl?"

I was timidly holding my "Keyblade" out in front of me, preparing myself for battle.

"There's no way you're taking him or me away," I said bravely, though I was shaking. "You're not taking him away from me."

The girl, who looked like she was around 16 years old, bent down to reach my height.

"How old are you?" she asked sweetly.

"T-ten…" I replied, shaking.

She walked up to me. Afraid, I dropped my key and it turned back into the two balls of light. The balls of light then flew into my pocket."No…" I said quietly. "Please no…"

The girl picked me up. I resorted to my last weapon- kicking and screaming. But because of the recent attacks of the black things, the streets were empty and no one heard my shouts.

The man- Leon?- picked up my brother and began to walk away, the pretty girl following.

It was in this manner that an odd collection of people made their way to the Second District Hotel, a long-haired man carrying a boy who, in turn, carrieda giant key, and a pretty girl holding a younger girl who was kicking and screaming. However, my screams and kicks had no effect on my captor.

--

"Come on, lazy bum!" said the pretty girl to my brother once we were back in the hotel. She and Leon had not hurt me at all. All they did, actually, was give me a cup of hot chocolate and go to examine Sora.

Sora slowly sat up and rubbed his head. He looked up at the pretty girl.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I guess…" Sora decided.

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade," the pretty girl explained. "But it's your heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade."

"I'm so glad that you're okay, Kairi," Sora said happily.

Kairi? The pretty girl was Kairi? No, Kairi was very different.

"Kairi?" The pretty girl was confused. "Who are you talking about? I'm the great ninja Yuffie."

That was her name…Yuffie. Great ninja? All she had done so far was take me to a hotel against my will. Some ninja.

"I think you might have overdone it, Squall," Yuffie said to the man. Wait, was his name Squall or Leon?

"That's Leon," the man corrected. Okay, so he was Leon.

"The Keyblade…" Sora said, looking at his weapon.

"Yeah," explained Yuffie apologetically. "We had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures. It turns out that that's how they were tracking you."

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them," added Leon. "But it won't work for long. Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one."

Chosen one? That sounded like something straight out of a movie.

The Keyblade appeared in Sora's hand. "Well," continued Leon. "I guess beggars can't be choosers."

"Why don't you start making sense!" demanded Sora. "What's going on here?"

Yuffie and Leon began explaining about the other worlds. These worlds were supposed to be secret because they were notconnected to any other world and had protective barriers between them. But the Heartless- the creatures from before- broke down the barriers separating them.

"The Heartless?" asked Sora.

"The ones who attacked you, you remember?" said Yuffie.

"Those without hearts." Put in Leon.

"The darkness in people's hearts- that's what attracts them," said Yuffie.

"And there is darkness within every heart," Leon finished.

"Hey," said Yuffie suddenly. "Have you heard of someone named Ansem?"

Ansem was studying the Heartless, recording all his findings in a detailed report. However, the pages of the report had been scattered to many of the other worlds after Ansem's world was attacked by the Heartless.

"So…" said Sora after the explanation. "This is the key?"

"Exactly!" said Yuffie, happy at Sora's comprehension.

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade," said Leon. "That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what."

"Well, I didn't ask for this," said Sora.

"The Keyblade chooses its master," said Yuffie. "And it chose you." She said it as if Sora was a grand-prize-winner or something.

"So tough luck," said Leon.

"How did all this happen?" Sora asked. "I remember being in my room…" He suddenly gasped and stood up. "What happened to my home? My island? Riku? Kairi?"

"You know what? I really don't know," said Leon.

Sora looked awfully sad. Then Leon came over to me.

"You need an explanation too?" he asked.

I nodded. "What's with these balls?"

"The Mystical Orbs…" said Leon slowly. "They have the power to make anything you want, even a new reality. They can't mess with the real one, though. And even if they could, it would be bad."

"The power to control reality…that's what the voice in my dream said," I muttered quietly to myself, but Yuffie heard.

"Not exactly," she said cheerily, "butthey do possess great power.They can copy any weapon you see, like the Keyblade."

"Only remember one thing," added Leon. "A copy is never as good as the real thing. A copy of the Keyblade may lack the power to unlock any lock, though it is still a useful weapon. A copy of my weapon, a gunblade, may lack the gun part. You never know."

"And a copy of this world might lack people," said Yuffie, cheery, as always.

"The Heartless fear the Mystical Orbs too. Even if they destroy the Keyblade, they know the Mystical Orbs could create another one, and with the original Keyblade gone, your "copy" would now be the real thing."

Honestly, I didn't want the responsibility of wielding my brother's weapon. A copy was good enough for me. "Well then, let's make sure the real Keyblade doesn't get destroyed," I said aloud.

Sora smiled and gestured for me to come. I summoned theMystical Orbs out of my pocket andonce again they turned into a copy of the Keyblade. I then walked over to Sora.

"Are you ready? We can't hide here forever. They'll find us eventually," said Leon, who was waiting at the door.

"We're ready," said Sora proudly.

--

"Yuffie," said Leon. "Let's go join Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors."

But Yuffie wasn't listening. "LEON!" she screamed as a Heartless appeared in the middle of the room.

"Yuffie, go!" yelled Leon.

Yuffie dashed out the door, past a lady in a pink dress. Sora and I readied our Keyblades, and Leon prepared his gunblade.

"Sora, let's go!" he announced. He blasted the Heartless through the window, then leaped out the windowhimself. Sora and I, being less reckless, took the stairs.

--

"Don't bother with the small fry," Leon advised us once we were outside. Two Heartless in armor shivered behind him. "Find the leader!"

Sora and I nodded and we set out looking for the leader of the Heartless.

We passed through the Dalmatian's House (they asked us to please look for their puppies) and wandered into the Second District. We checked seemingly everywhere for the leader of the Heartless- the Gizmo Shop, the fountain, even in the First District.

Finally, Sora said, "Let's try the Third District."

I nodded and we ran together to the Third District. It wasn't an easy journey. Armored Heartless popped up left and right. After our 12th batch of Heartless, I got annoyed and sent a Chibbi after them.

The Chibbi quickly frightened them away with various flashes of light, and we entered the Third District.

--

The Third District was oddly quiet. Sora and I dashed down into the square, looking for the leader of the Heartless.

"Do you see it?" I asked.

"I dunno," he said. "What does it look like?"

"Beats me."

Just then, a goofy-looking dog and a weird duck dropped seemingly out of the sky and landed on top of Sora. I was unharmed.

The odd pair groaned for a while, then saw Sora's Keyblade. "The key!" they both gasped. Then their eyes wandered up to me.

"Hey, look!" said the dog. "It's those ball things…"

"The Mystical Orbs, doofus!" quacked the duck. Then he took a moment to observe me. "What's a little girl doing with the Mystical Orbs!" he demanded.

"She's not a little girl!" said Sora somewhat indignantly, but proudly all the same. "She's my sister, and she's a great fighter."

"Gawrsh, really?" said the dog.

We had no further time to talk. The ground suddenly began to shake. Several columns shot out of the ground, each one with an armored Heartless on top. They barricaded our exits.

Several more armored Heartless appeared around us.

"I don't know who you guys are," said Sora, "but let's fight!"

"Okay!" said the duck and the dog in unison as we all charged forward and beat the Heartless to a pulp.

--

After the armored Heartless were defeated, a giant purple suit of armor dropped out of the sky. The armor reassembled itself quickly and glared at us through its visor.

Even though this had not been confirmed, I knew exactly who it was. The leader of the Heartless.

--

Well, that's the third chapter! I kinda finished it off quickly, I know. But, it's still good. Please review, and I plan to update soon!


	4. Journey to a New World

Disclaimer: I own nothing Kingdom Hearts. Sorry, I'm getting lazy about that whole way, shape, or form thing. But I own Skyler, her dark side, her Chibbis, the Evil Chibbis, the Mystical Orbs, and the Mystical Orbs of Skyler's dark side.

Okay, it's the next chapter. Yes, you're all doomed to read it. And don't worry, I'll start on Chapter 5 as soon as I'm done. I've already got ideas for, like, the 20th chapter!

--

"THE FEET!" screamed Sora. "ATTACK THE FEET!" My Mystical Orbs turned into a copy of the Keyblade and I rushed at the giant Heartless's feet. Angry, the Heartless lowered its claws and swiped at us. The duck was thrown back. He had lost a great deal of health, and he was panting.

"HEY, DUCK!" I screamed. The duck looked up. "HERE!" I tossed him a Healing Potion.

Meanwhile, Sora and the dog were busily hacking away at the boss's feet, and it was stomping up and down in an attempt to harm them. The duck charged back into battle shooting fire balls at the Heartless. The leader stomped his feet, this time harder, and the duck was thrown back again.

"DON'T GIVE UP!" advised the dog, and he threw another Potion at the duck. Our odd team was in good shape again.

After a great deal of hacking the monster's feet, one of them burst into little green orbs.

"ENERGY ORBS!" exclaimed the duck excitedly. "CATCH THEM!"

I scooped them up. My body glowed green for a second, then I felt miraculously better. I slashed awayatthe boss's remaining foot.

The angry Heartless began stomping his one foot madly at my brother, who soon lost a great deal of energy. However, the duck noticed and threw him a Potion.

"HEY! YOU WITH THE KEY!" he shouted, and then tossed drink. My brother was soon back on his feet.

And speaking of feet, the boss's remaining leg soon burst into energy orbs, which our odd team collected.

"THE ARMS!" cried my brother. "DESTROY THE ARMS, AND HE'LL BE DEFENSELESS!"

Following his instructions, we leaped up and slashed at the leader's arm. It attempted to scratch us with its huge claws, but was only successful once. The leader's arms were soon a pile of energy orbs.

Arms gone, the Heartless resorted to slamming itself upon our team. We retaliated well. I blindly slashed at the boss's body, and soon only the head was left.

"Skyler!" called Sora. "Send in one of those Chibbi things!"

At my call, a Chibbi from my pocket came to life and flew inside one of the holes in the Heartless's mask. It let out a bright flash of light right in front of the boss's eyes and the boss was soon defeated.

A giant heart emanated from the boss's body and floated into the air, free at last.

--

"So, you were looking for us?" Sora asked the duck and the dog. They nodded.

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," commented Leon, who had somehow appeared behind us along with Yuffie. I still don't get how they do that.

"Hey, why don't you come with us?" asked the dog. "We can go to other worlds on our vessel."

"I wonder if we could find Riku and Kairi," mused Sora.

"Of course," commented the duck.

"Sora, go with them," said Leon. "Especially if you want to find your friends.

"Yeah, I guess." Sora seemed sad.

"C'mon, Sora," I said, tugging his arm.

"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand?"

"Huh?" I said.

The duck then listed a set of rules that Sora and I would have to agree to if we wanted to travel with them.

"No frowning. No sad face. Okay?"

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!" exclaimed the dog.

The duck shoved the dog away. "This boat runs on happy faces."

"Seriously?" I asked, shocked. "Okay then, how's this?" I gave him the brightest, happiest, cheesiest, weirdest smile you could think of.

"Ok…that's a little too happy…"he muttered, shocked that someone could be so happy.

"Happy?" muttered Sora in a depressed tone. He took a deep breath, then smiled a VERY cheesy smile.

"CHEESE!" he exclaimed. When he saw no one smiling back, he stopped and raised an eyebrow.

The duck and the dog burst into laughter.

"That's one funny face," said the dog.

"Okay, why not?" said Sora. "I'll go with you guys."

"Same here," I said, giggling.

"Donald Duck," said the duck putting his hand out.

"Name's Goofy," said the dog, also putting out his hand.

"I'm Sora," said my brother, putting out his hand too.

"And I'm Skyler!" I said, giggling and putting out my hand.

"All for one, one for all!" exclaimed Goofy.

We joinedour hands in the middle.

--

"Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you," said Leon. We were back in the First District. "We don't know how far the Heartless have spread."

"Check out the shops here!" squealed Yuffie. "They've got some pretty neat stuff!"

"This is from all of us," said the lady in the pink dress. She had explained earlier that her name was Aerith and she was friends with Yuffie and Leon.

Aerith gave us 100 munny. "Spend it as you see fit," she said.

"Good luck!" put in Yuffie.

"I hope you find your friends," added Aerith.

"Look out for each other," Leon advised. "Keep your sprits up.

"The gummi ship is outside the gate," Donald explained to us.

"The what?" Sora and I said together.

"That's our ship," Donald explained quickly.

"Wait 'til you see it!" said Goofy excitedly.

"Hold on." It was Donald. "Sora, Skyler, this is for you."

Donald taught Sora and I how to use magic. Now we could shoot fire at enemies. COOL!

"Goofy, give them that other thing," Donald commanded.

"What?" said Goofy.

"You know!"

"Oh, yeah."

Goofy handed Sora and me a little box. When we opened it, we were suddenly filled with a new knowledge- how to perform a Dodge Roll and avoid our enemies by somersaulting

"Well, I see a big adventure coming our way!" said a little cricket, named Jiminy. He was recording our travels. "Looks like it's up to me to keep track of it all in my journal!"

"So," Sora said to me as we approached the World Exit.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"That face I made before- what was wrong with it?"

--

"Well," said Goofy once we were on the ship. "Where do we go now?"

There were two worlds on our radar.

"The left one!" said Sora.

"The right one!" I said.

He turned to me. "The usual?"

"Sure."

"ROCK PAPER SCISSORS!" we shouted at the same time.

I had paper. Sora had rock.

"HAHA!" I exclaimed happily. "I WIN!"

--

"We travel to different worlds on the gummi ship," explained Donald.

"The Heartless ships often give us a hard time," added Goofy.

"Always be on the lookout during the flight," said Donald.

"Can I drive?" Sora and I asked at the same time.

"NO!" was the response.

--

After hours of driving, a small dot appeared in the distance.

"Hey, I see something!" I announced.

"We see it too," said Donald, slowing the gummi ship. "Let's land."

--

We found ourselves falling slowly through a deep hole. Although Sora, Donald, and I were ready for anything, Goofy was relaxing and enjoying his fall.

We landed softly, except for Goofy, who landed with a thud. Then a small rabbit ran quickly past us.

"Oh, my fur and whiskers!" it cried. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

I gasped. "LOOK! It's a cute little bunny!" I exclaimed, tackling it and hugging it!

"NO!" it screamed, squirming. "Please, no! I'm late! The queen will have my head!" He whacked me with a pocket watch. I dropped him and he ran quickly away.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" the rabbit continued to rant. "I'm here, I should be there. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"

"Did he just say he'd lose his…head?" said Sora slowly.

I gulped. "Yes…"

We walked through a tiled hallway until we came to a door. The door opened to a smaller door, which opened to a smaller door. We walked inside.

We were in an oddly small space, much of which was taken up by a fireplace, a desk, and a bed.The rabbit disappeared into a tiny door. We ventured over.

"How did he get so small?" asked Sora, referring to the rabbit.

"I don't know, but wasn't he cute?" I squealed.

The doorknob of the tiny door began to talk. "You're simply too big."

"Really?" I said sarcastically. "I never knew that. You must be a genius. Anyway, how can we get smaller, _genius_?"

"You woke me up, you noisy brats…" mumbled the door. "If you want to get smaller, try the bottle on the table over there, _stupid_."

"What?" I demanded. "There's no table over there, let alone a bottle. Look!" I turned around. A table with two bottles on it and a chair popped out of the ground. "Never mind…" I scoffed quietly.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I wandered over to the drinks. There was an orange bottle and a blue bottle.

"Which one?" asked Sora.

"Gawrsh, I dunno," said Goofy.

"Try the orange one," said Donald.

"No," I said. "The blue one."

Donald cast me an angry glare, and I shot one back at him.

"Well, this method always works for me," said Goofy. "Eeny, meeny, miny, mo! Okay, let's try this one." He picked up the blue bottle.

I smiled contemptuously at Donald. He growled at me.

We each took a sip from the blue bottle, and we immediately began to grow smaller.

"HA!" I announced to Donald. "IN YOUR FACE!"

--

We were standing atop the table. As soon as we jumped down, tiny red flying Heartless appeared. We whacked at them, and they soon disappeared. We then walked over to the talking door.

"Well, we got smaller now," said Sora. But the door was sleeping. I groaned.

"Well, what should we do?" I asked.

"I dunno," replied Sora. "I have a feeling we should grow back to normal size. I don't like being six inches tall."

--

"Try the orange one," I concluded.

"No," said Donald. "A larger dose of the blue one."

"A larger dose will just make us smaller."

"No, a larger dose will make us larger. Doesn't it make sense?"

"Goofy, use your 'method.'"

"Okay!" he said. "Eeny, meeny, miny, mo! Ok, the orange one!"

"But you picked the blue one!" roared Donald.

"Isn't that the point?" said Goofy, confused. We all took a sip from the orange bottle and grew back to normal size.

"HA!" I yelled at Donald. He just grumbled.

--

As you can see, there is a bit of rivalry between Donald and Skyler, just as there was between Kairi and Skyler. Please review!


	5. Wonderland

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts stuff yada yada yada…. But I own Skyler, her dark side, her Chibbis, the Evil Chibbis, theMystical Orbs, and the Mystical Orbs of Skyler's dark side.

Next chapter! I now have a great idea for this chapter. Before, I was completely stuck and had no idea what I would write next. –holds up egg labeled "thought"- So, I put my thought in the Incubation Chamber and it hatched into… -holds up chicken-….an idea!

--

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Sora.

"I have no idea," I said. "I'm so totally stuck! It's so…frustrating!" I kicked the bed, which promptly folded up into the wall, revealing an entrance. "That was weird," was all I had to say.

We drank from the blue bottle, shrank to a miniature size, and ran through the entrance.

--

We were apparently in a royal court. Soldiers- rows of playing cards holding axes and other weapons- left their posts revealing the judge- a queen, and the defendant- a young girl, who looked like me, only different color hair and different clothes. Her hairstyle was different too.

The rabbit from before was climbing onto a tall pedestal. He carried a trumpet. Once on top of the pedestal, he blasted his trumpet and announced "Court is now in session!"

"I'm on trial? But why?" asked the girl who looked like me.

"Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!" announced the rabbit.

"This girl is the culprit," the queen announced quickly. "There's no doubt about it. And the reason is…because I say so! That's why!"

"This is so unfair!" cried the girl.

"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" asked the judge/queen.

"Of course!" said the girl. "I've done absolutely nothing wrong! You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so…so mean!"

"Silence!" roared the queen. "You dare defy me?"

"Hey, guys," Sora whispered. "We should help her out."

"Yeah, but the-" began Donald.

"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" asked Goofy.

"Meddling!" corrected Donald.

"Oh, yeah. And that's against the rules."

"The court finds the defendant…" began the queen, "guilty as charged! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart, OFF WITH HER HEAD!"

"No! No! Oh, please!" begged the girl.

"Hold it right there!" cried Sora. We were charging into the court.

"Who are you?" demanded the queen. "How dare you interfere with my court!

"Excuse me, but we know who the _real_ culprit is!" said Sora.

"Uh-huh," said Goofy. "It's the Heartle-"

"Hold on, Goofy," I interrupted. "I want to explain to this fat old lady-" the queen gasped "-why her court is so unfair. Can I try, Sora?"

Sora nodded.

"Okay, well, first of all, you, Your Majesty, have far too many positions in the court. You are the accuser, the prosecutor, the judge, and the jury. This makes the jury in favor of the accuser, which is completely unfair.

"Secondly, this poor young girl here has no lawyer. She is being forced to appear _pro se_, which is also unfair. So, I've got an idea as tohow to make your court more fair.

"I could be the lawyer, Sora and Donald over there could be the jury, and Goofy could be the prosecutor." I turned to them. "What do you guys say to that?"

"Well, if it would save that girl, I guess it's okay…just this once," said Sora.

"OKAY!" I exclaimed suddenly. "So, since I'm the lawyer, I'm going to start by saying that this girl is not the one you're looking for."

The queen gave me an amused look. "Have you any proof?"

"Um…"

--

The girl was locked in a small cage near the queen.

"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence!" demanded the queen. "Fail, and it's off with all of your heads! Gather as much or little evidence as you please. Report back here once you're ready."

We walked over to the girl's cage. "Who are you?" she asked shyly.

"I'm Sora," my brother replied.

"I'm Goofy," said Goofy.

"I'm Donald," said Donald.

"I'm Skyler," I said.

"I'm Alice, as you've heard before. Pleased to meet you, though I do wish it were under better circumstances. I'm sorry I got you involved in this."

"Don't mention it," I said. Alice, the girl, giggled.

"You know," she said. "We look so very much alike. I bet that you could almost pass for me!"

I smiled back, and we exited, looking for evidence.

--

A cat head appeared once we had entered an odd forest (we were about as tall as the blades of grass…shorter, even!). The headappeared and disappeared several times before appearing one final time with its body.

"Who are you?" quacked Donald.

"Who, indeed?" said the purple-and-pink cat. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"

"She's not losing her head!" I announced. "I saved her…I'm such a good lawyer…"

"If you know who the culprit is, tell us!" demanded Sora.

"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers- but doesn't always tell." The cat was enjoying this- it had a huge grin on its face.

"You really enjoy tormenting us, don't you?" I asked.

"Maybe I do. Perhaps I don't. Think about it. The answer- the culprits lies in darkness."

The cat disappeared. "WAIT!" screamed Sora. "Nice, Skyler. You had to chase him away."

"HEY! It's not my fault!"

"They've already left the forest," came the Cheshire Cat's voice. "I won't tell which exit. There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all."

"Should we trust him?" asked Donald.

"To trust or not to trust? I trust you'll decide!" said the cat.

Should we trust him or not? Trust him or not? I thought to myself as we tromped through the forest searching for evidence.

"He knows the answers, but don't get tricked by his riddles," said a voice in my head. It wasn't the voice from my dream, but it was familiar. Very familiar.

"Hey," I stopped Sora and the others. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Sora.

"That voice…"

"We didn't hear a thing. The forest might be getting to you. It _is_ kind of weird here."

"Okay…"

"They can't hear me," said the familiar voice. "Only you can. Now, the first piece of evidence is in the clearing over there."

That one? I asked. I wasn't speaking aloud, just thinking.

"Yeah, that one."

"Guys," I told my comrades. "I think there's a piece of evidence in there." I pointed.

"How do you know?" asked Sora.

"I dunno. I just…do."

"Okay…whatever."

We entered the clearing. "Okay," said the voice. "See that blade of grass over there? The one that's slightly darker than all the others. Pull it."

How can I trust you? I asked. I don't even know who you are!

"I'm someone you know very well. But I can't tell you who I am. I just can't. Anyway, pull the grass."

I walked slowly forward and pulled the blade of grass. A pink box fell out of the sky. Sora opened it. It was a photo of some Heartless fighting the queen's guards. Apparently, the card soldiers were easily defeated.

"Wow!" said Sora, impressed. "How'd you know to do that?"

"Don't tell him," said the voice in my head. "Just…make something up. I'd tell him if I could but I'm in big trouble if he knows."

"Um…" I began. "Lucky guess…I suppose."

"Where'd you get luck like that?" Sora asked.

"Lucky Chibbi?"

"Ok, cool."

--

The voice in my head continued to guide me, leading me to each piece of evidence. When we had found everything, we began our way back to the court.

"Oh, shoot!" Sora suddenly exclaimed. "My shoelace is untied. I knew I should wear smaller shoes…." He put the evidence down and began to tie his shoe.

While Sora was distracted, I saw a thin shadow slip behind us. It opened one of the pink boxes of evidence, took the photo out, slipped a different one in, closed the lid, and disappeared.

"Ok!" said Sora suddenly. "Ready? Let's go."

"Wait!" I protested. "I saw-"

"Not now, Skyler," Sora interrupted."I havea feelingthe queen will kill us if we keep her waiting too long."

"But-"

"No."

--

"Now, show me what you have found," said the queen once we were back in the court.

Four boxes appeared in front of us.

"Cards!" cried the queen. "Bring forth my evidence!"

The cards handed the boxes to the queen. She shuffled them, then frowned.

"Hmm…" she mused. "Checking all four would only be a waste of time…"

"But we worked so hard!" I screamed, even though we had not. The voice had been telling me what to do all along.

"NO!" roared the queen. "Choose the one you wish to present."

I suddenly realized what she was up to. "Sora!" I whispered sharply.

"Not now!" he hissed back.

"No! It's important. Look, while you were distracted with yourshoelaces, one of the card soldiers messed with our evidence. Pick the wrong one, and it'll look like we're guilty!"

He frowned, and then looked at my troubled face. "You pick," he decided.

I stepped forward and observed my choices. "HURRY!" roared the queen.

Which one? I thought. Which one!

"Second to the left," said the voice in my head.

How do you know?

"I had…I just do. Now, second box to the left."

I tapped the box. It turned into a photo of the Heartless fighting back the card soldiers.

"What in the worldare those things?" roared the queen.

"That's your evidence. Alice is innocent," explained Sora matter-of-factly.

The queen began to growl. "Silence!" she screamed desperately. "I'm the law here! Article 29: 'Anyone who defies the queen is guilty'!"

"That's crazy!" concluded Donald.

The queen wasn't listening. "Seize them at once!"

--

A tower with gears sticking outof itappeared out of nowhere. The card soldier who had messed with our evidence began cranking the gears. Alice's cage was raised high into the air. The cards began their attack.

"Cards!" commanded the queen. "If they touch the tower, you lose your heads!"

"The tower!" I whispered to Sora. He nodded.

Sora and I began hacking away at the tower with our Keyblades (in my case, a copy of the Keyblade). Donald and Goofy fought off the cards. A short while later, the first gear burst into energy orbs. Alice's cage lowered halfway.

Alice smiled gratefully and began banging away at the bars. She'll have no luck, I thought. We may look alike, but she was a docile girl who was afraid of confrontationand I was a skilled fighter who had spent my whole life fighting with other people on my island.

A short time later, the second gear was near to breaking. I laughed out loud. We were winning!

"ESSSSSSCCCCCAAAAAAPPPPPE!" a card soldier alerted his allies.

Escape? What was he talking about? Alice was still happily banging away at her cage bars, right?

Before I could think anymore, the card had grabbed me and taken me away. I couldn't tell where I was going. I tried to scream, but the card had covered my mouth and Sora was too absorbed in whacking the last gear to notice.

The remaining gear burst into orbs.

--

The cage came rattling down. Sora looked around. Then he turned directly to the queen.

"Where is she!" he demanded. "Where's Skyler?"

"I don't know!" she screamed back at him. "And I don't care. It's time to execute Alice."

I would have screamed "I'm right here!" but the card who had kidnapped me had threatened to execute me if I didn't keep quiet.

Sora dashed over to the cage, which was currently covered with curtains. The curtains were drawn back, revealing…me!

"Skyler!" Sora hacked at the bars with his Keyblade, but the soldier guarding me silently threatened to stab him. He tried talking.

"What happened to Alice?" he asked.

"This _is_ Alice, culprit," said the card.

"No, it's not. That's my sister," explained Sora.

"No, it isn't," insisted the card.

"How you could mistake me for Alice I'll never understand," I retorted, glaring at the guard. "There is a significant difference in _hair color_."

"Do you know what happened to Alice?" Sora asked me.

"Maybe she escaped while we were breaking the tower.

"You fool!" the queen half roared, half wailed. "That isn't Alice!"

"Oh," said the soldier.

"CARDS!" The cards stood at attention.

"Find the one who's behind this. I don't care how!"

The cards scampered off, leaving us and the queen. The seconds that passed seemed like hours, until Sora finally posed the question.

"Well?" he asked testily.

"Well what?" replied the queen.

"Aren't you going to let Skyler go?"

"Why should I?"

"So she can help find Alice."

"No."

"What? Why?"

"Well, who knows, maybe she really is Alice." The queen eyed me closely. Then she proposed a challenge.

"Find the real Alice, that is, if this isn't the real Alice. Prove to me that this is your 'Skyler.'"

"But I _am_ Skyler!" I screamed. "I mean, look! We look so different!"

Then I realized we didn't. We looked exactly the same, despite the different clothing and hair. If I dyed my hair blonde, I could easily pass for Alice.

"ARG!" I roared. "This is so…frustrating!"

"We'll find Alice…" said Sora, exasperated. They left the courtroom.

--

The minutes ticking by seemed like hours. It was a very uncomfortable situation, going something like this:

"Alice?"

"I'm not Alice."

"Of course you're Alice. Stop denying it."

"What did you want to ask me?"

"Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Try to steal my heart."

"I'm not Alice, and even if I was, Alice did not steal your heart."

"Who was it, then?"

"The guys in the photo."

"Hmph."

"Why did you send your guard to mess up our evidence?"

"I did no such thing!"

"Sure you didn't…"

"That's a good girl."

--

Later I tried contacting Sora. No luck. I tried to summon my Keyblade to hack at the bars, but when the queen saw me doing so, she screamed, "Give me those!" and snatched away my Mystical Orbs.

Horribly upset, I consulted the voice in my head.

Voice?

"Yeah?"

What should I do?

"I-I dunno. I've never been in a situation like thisbefore."

…Voice?

"Mm?"

I miss Riku…

A long pause.

"…..I'm sure you do."

What's wrong?

"Well, I guess that it's just…I miss him too."

I began thinking about Riku and reminiscing about the "old days" back on Destiny Islands. Riku was always there for me.

--

_Flashback: Riku is 10 years old and Skyler is 5. Skyler is sitting on the beach, crying. Riku walks up to her._

"_Hey, what's wrong?" Riku asks._

"_The mean girl over there beat me up!" Skyler cries, pointing to Selphie, another girl from the islands, who is standing on the dock._

_Selphie is bragging to several other kids about her victory. "Yeah," says Selphie. "She put up a good fight, but I eventually whipped her good." She brandishes her "whip," a jump rope. Riku walks over._

"_So, I guess you think you're cool because you beat a five-year-old, huh?" he says._

"_Hey, you never told us she was a little kid!" cries Tidus, who was in the audience._

"_Which little kid was it, anyway?" asks another audience member._

"…_Skyler," Selphie admits. "You know, Sora's little sister."_

_Tidus gets mad and walks away. _

"_Anyway," continues Riku. "If you're so tough, why don't you take me on?"_

_There is a great deal of whispering. Skyler, meanwhile, is watching from the beach. She smiles._

"_This should be interesting," one boy whispers to another. "I heard that Riku's the best fighter on the island."_

"_Same here," replies the other boy._

_Riku whips out his wooden sword and gestures for Selphie to "bring it on."_

_They fight. Selphie is easily defeated. She stomps off, angry._

_Riku walks over to Skyler. "Well, that's that," he announces. "Now, how about we go for hot chocolate or something?"_

_He picks Skyler up and walks away with her on his back. The kids back on the dock are staring in awe._

--

Hours later, Sora and the others came to get me. "It took you long enough!" I screamed.

Sora sighed. "Okay…" he began, looking at the queen. "We didn't find Alice."

"WHAT!" screamed the queen. "Well, than it's off with this girl's head!"

"But…" continued Sora, tapping into his creativity. "We do think you're the prettiest woman ever."

"Really?" commented the queen. "Ok…well…I guess I can let the girl go…just this once…" She opened the door of my cage. "JUST GO!" she screamed, and we were gone.

"Wait," I said before we could leave. "Your Majesty, could I have my Mystical Orbs back please?"

--

"It seems Alice is in another world," explained Sora as we boarded the gummi ship. "We had to fight a huge Heartless, thinking we would find Alice, but after that, that darn cat appeared and told us she was gone! Darn it…

"But then the weirdest thing happened!" Sora continued. "The doorknob- the talking one- complained that we made too much noise. He yawned, and a little lock appeared. My Keyblade suddenly emitted a beam of light and locked it. Then it spit out a little green gummi block! Maybe it'll shut that door up…" Gummi blocks were the building materials of gummi ships. By collecting new gummi blocks, we could upgrade our ship to make it faster, stronger, and more durable. But this gummi block was differently shaped from the others- I couldn't figure out why.

"Oh!" said Goofy. "And we got these!" He held up three adorable, spotty, frightened Dalmatian puppies. "They belong to the dogs in Traverse Town, remember?" He tucked them away. "Cute, huh?"

"More than you can imagine!" I squealed, and we headed off to another world, laughing.

--

Wow, that chapter was longer than I expected…oh well! Time to start on the next one!


	6. Deep Jungle

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, related characters, trademarks, etc. in any…oh, you know what I'm going to say. You also know what I own, and if you don't you haven't been reading the disclaimers of the previous chapters. Ha ha, now you can't sue me!

Ok, this is the next chapter! Oh, and just so you know, Fanfiction (don't own it, never will) has fixed my penname. I AM NOW OFFICIALLY SKYLER25! YIPPEE!

--

"Ok!" I said as we sat down in the overcrowded ship. "Which world next?"

"The new one," suggested Donald. "On the right."

"No," I said. "The one from before. On the left."

"Right."

"Left."

"Aw, Goofy, just do that method thing so they'll stop fighting!" said Sora.

"Okay!" exclaimed Goofy. "Eeny, meeny, miny, mo! Ok, the one on the right!"

"HUH!" I screamed. "But you picked mine!"

"Yeah, but I let you win last time, so this time I'm letting Donald win."

I scowled at Donald, and then begged to drive.

"No," said Sora.

"Why?"

"You're not 16 yet."

"Neither are you!"

"That's why I'm not driving."

--

"Hey, Donald, maybe King Mickey's down there," said Goofy as we approached the world. He then quickly explained to us that they were looking for their king, Mickey Mouse. The stars in their world had started disappearing, one by one, and Mickey knew that meant darkness was coming, so he set out to try to stop it.

"King Mickey? In a backwater place like that? No way!" exclaimed Donald. "Let's move on."

"Hold on," said Sora. "Riku and Kairi might be down there. Let's just check it out."

"Yeah," I said. "Besides, you were the one who wanted to go to this world. I would have picked the one on the left, but _nooo_, you had to-"

"Shut up! We're on an important mission!" screeched Donald.

"JUST LAND!" screamed Sora.

"Do what he says!" I yelled.

"No!"

"Come on!"

"Aw, phooey!"

"We're landing!"

Sora grabbed control of the ship. He began to drive it towards the world.

"Don't touch that!" screamed Donald. "NO! You can't drive! You're under 16!"

Our ship crashed into the lush, green land.

--

Apparently, I had blacked out. I woke up to see several things looking over me. I sat up. Rubbing my head. "Who are you guys?" I asked.

I then realized that they were gorillas! I shrieked and hid behind a bush. We were in a lush jungle. "No! What are you doing?"

The gorilla seemed to recognize that I was a human. I could tell it was a girl- she had many babies around her. She picked me up with easy. I screamed and called upon my Mystical Orbs to make a copy of the Keyblade.

Keyblade in hand, I wondered what I should do next. I couldn't hurt the gorilla. I made my Keyblade disappear and let her take me to…wherever she was taking me.

We arrived at a camp. The gorilla shoved me out of the bushes. Then I realized that she wanted me to be with my own kind.

"Thanks…" I mumbled, even though I knew she couldn't understand me. "Sorry about the whole Keyblade thing…"

But she was gone. I turned around and looked at the camp. No one was home. I decided to twiddle my thumbs and wait.

--

Sora suddenly appeared from the bushes. He was with another man.

"Sora!" I screamed and ran to him. He embraced me.

"Friend? Riku? Kairi?" said the man. I could tell he didn't speak English very well.

Sora turned to him and nodded. "Friend. Skyler."

I smiled. Yup, that's me!

"His name is Tarzan," Sora explained to me. "He doesn't speak too much English, but he's helping us look for Riku and Kairi."

"What about Donald and Goofy?" I asked.

"Never mind about them. I thought you didn't like Donald."

"Yeah, but…aw, never mind…It's just that…I dunno."

Sora ruffled my hair and we entered one of the main tents.

--

A young girl was waiting in the tent. "Jane," said Tarzan.

"Tarzan!" said the girl. "Oh, who is this?" The looked at Sora and me.

"Uh, hi there," began Sora. "I'm-"

"Oh, you speak English!" said the girl. Yeah, we spoke English!

"We speak Japanese, too!" I said, and began blabbering at her in a language she could never hope to understand. Japanese.

"Um…ok," she said. "So, then, obviously, you're not related to Tarzan… Are you here to study the gorillas?"

"Highly doubtful," came a voice as a heavy-built man with a rifle entered the tent. Following him were…

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora and I exclaimed at the same time as we rushed to hug them.

"Sora!" they both shouted as they rushed for us. Then we all remembered we were supposed to be mad at each other and pulled away. Sora was looking left. Donald was looking right.

"A circus of clowns," scoffed the man with the rifle. "Not much use for hunting gorillas."

"Mr. Clayton!" said the girl, agitated. "We're studying them, not hunting them. This is _research_."

She sighed and turned to us. "Well, the more the merrier!" she said. "Do make yourselves at home."

Sora and Donald were still looking in opposite directions. "Well anyway…" Sora began.

"I'm staying," they said at the same time. Goofy and I simply stood by watching.

"Huh?" said Sora.

"Sora, look what we found," said Goofy.

"Sora and who?" I said testily.

"Oh! Right! Skyler too! Look at this." He held up his hands. In them was a small block.

--

"What's that?" asked Sora.

"A gummi block," said Goofy. "You know, the stuff we use for our ship."

"So that means…"

"The king could be here. We've gotta work together to look for him." Donald paused. "For now!" he added.

"Fine," said Sora. "I'll let you tag along. For now!"

I laughed. We were a team again. Me, Sora, that idiot Donald, and Goofy.

--

"Apparently Tarzan was raised in the jungle by the gorillas," explained the lady, Jane. "Communicating with him still isn't easy, but he's learning."

"So he was speaking in 'gorilla' back there…" commented Sora.

"Ah, that's right. You're looking for your friends?"

"He said Riku and Kairi were here."

"He did!" I burst out.

Sora nodded. "Then he said this one word I couldn't understand…"

"Why don't we try this?" asked Jane, gesturing to a slide machine. "We'll show Tarzan some slides and see if any of them match that word."

She reached for the slides. "Hey, what happened? They're gone."

"Oh!" said Sora, reaching into his pocket. "I found this on the way here." He handed her a slide. It was of an old woman carrying a baby.

Tarzan shook his head.

--

We scoured the camp, looking for the slides. As usual, the voice told me where all of them were.

"One's on top of the tent. The other's in that pile of boxes. There's another in the clothes hamper. Now check the globe."

I blamed my "lucky streak," on my lucky Chibbi and smiled, although on the inside I was really confused. Why was the voice in my head telling me all these things?

How do you know where all the slides are? I asked.

"I…Like all the other things, I can't tell you. Sorry. Oh, wait! Look in that crate over there."

I peaked inside and squealed. "Puppies!" I exclaimed. Sora reached inside and tucked away the four adorable Dalmatian puppies and we made our way back inside.

"Okay," said Jane. "Let's look at these slides, shall we?"

The first was of a huge castle. Sora frowned.

"What's wrong, Sora?" asked Goofy.

"What?" said Sora. "Um…Nothing."

"It looks so familiar," Sora mumbled to himself. "But how? I've never been off my island."

I was feeling the same way.

The next slide was of a man proposing to a lady. Then there was a picture of a gorilla, then a ship, then some sword fighters.

"Well, Tarzan?" said Jane.

"Where are our friends, Riku and Kairi?" asked Sora.

Tarzan shook his head.

"Hey," began Sora. "I thought-"

"That leaves just one place," came Mr. Clayton's voice. "Young man, we've been in this jungle for some time now. But we have yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them."

"Oh, come on!" I said. "That's stupid. Why would Riku and Kairi be with the gorillas?"

"Just a thought…" murmured Mr. Clayton.

"Really, Mr. Clayton." Jane reprimanded him for a different reason. "Tarzan wouldn't hide-"

"Then take us there!" demanded Mr. Clayton. "Take us to the gorillas," he said to Tarzan. When Tarzan didn't respond, Mr. Clayton tried pronouncing each syllable carefully. "Go-rill-las."

Tarzan glanced at Sora, who was looking at him hopefully. Tarzan nodded.

"Tarzan…" said Jane worriedly. "Are you sure?"

"Tarzan go see Kerchak," said Tarzan.

"Kerchak?" said Jane.

"He must be the leader," said Mr. Clayton slyly. "Perfect. I'll go along as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place…"

--

"Skyler, no!" screamed the voice in my head. "You can't trust that man. He's greedy and cruel. All he wants is to hunt the gorillas.

"No, really," I said to Mr. Clayton. "Tarzan has been living in the jungle for all his life. He'll be perfectly fine by himself."

"Skyler?" said Sora. "What's gotten into you? We might be finally able to see Riku and Kairi again, and you're saying no?"

I sighed as Mr. Clayton walked off. I'm sorry, I said to the voice in my head. I just couldn't stop him…

"It's okay," said the voice, but its tone was worried. "I just hope that you can keep him under control…"

--

We exited the camp and entered a lagoon. Following Tarzan's lead, we climbed up a vine into the treetops. Tarzan swung across the vines, and we followed. Sora swung skillfully across. Then Goofy went, though it was more like flailing his arms than swinging.

I was to go next. I felt the vine. It was weak and slippery. I gripped it tightly and swung to the next vine.

I'm not sure what happened next. Either my hand slipped or the vine broke. Anyway, the next thing I knew I was rocketing down through the treetops.

I landed in the lagoon next to a hippo.

--

I have often heard that hippos are some of the most protective- and dangerous- animals. Now I know why.

Three baby hippos surrounded the mother. Upon seeing me, they gave their mother a "mommy-help-me-mean-ol'-Skyler-is-gonna-cream-me-with-her-evil-copy-of-a-Keyblade" look and huddled together in the corner. They had sad and frightened expressions on their faces, but I have almost no doubt that they had evil intentions.

The mother hippo was now very angry. She opened her huge jaws, revealing oddly sharp molars. Who knows…maybe hippos in this world are omnivores.

Before the hippo could make me into baby food for her children, Sora rocketed down and crashed onto the hippo's nose, saving my hide. The hippo was forced to close its mouth and sink.

Sora jumped onto the solid ground and pulled me up too, totally oblivious to the fact that he had just stepped on a hippo. He soon found out.

The hippo burst out of the water and roared (who knew hippos could roar?). Flaring its nostrils, it prepared to charge at us.

"Sora!" I yelled. "Hit it!"

"What? Why?"

"Oh, no reason… EXCEPT THAT WE'RE ABOUT TO DIE!"

"Skyler! We can't hurt it! It doesn't mean any harm… Okay, maybe it does. RUN!"

--

"Hey…I didn't see you swinging across!" I yelled at Donald. We were back in the treetops. Tarzan had had to carry me across. We were about to cross over to where Kerchak and some other gorillas are.

"I flew across," said Donald proudly. Too proudly. "Hah…" he muttered under his breath. "You fell in the lake…."

"What'd you say?" I was prepared to punch Donald any moment. "And besides, how could YOU fly? You're a duck. Ducks can't fly. They can swim, but they can't fly."

"You just saw a roaring hippo, and you're accusing me of being able to fly."

"Hmph."

--

"Did you get any of that?" Goofy asked Donald. Tarzan had been busily blabbing away at two gorillas.

"No," said Donald.

"How 'bout you?" Goofy asked me.

"Goofy, my good friend," I said, "I understand about as much gorilla language as Donald understands Japanese."

"I UNDERSTAND JAPANESE!" screeched Donald.

"Donald!" I hissed quietly. "You'll scare the gorillas away!"

But they had already left. Tarzan looked sad and dejected.

"They're gone," announced Donald. "See? Now I can talk as loud as I want, ok? OKAY?"

I cringed. Donald had shouted so loud that the treetops shook slightly. I heard some desperate cries.

"What's that?"

A young gorilla plummeted from the higher vines. It had landed right in my arms. My eyes went wide.

"AWWWWWWW! LOOK AT THE CUTE LITTLE GORILLA! SORA, CAN WE KEEP HIM? PLEEEEEEEEEAAAAASE?"

"Erm…ok…but only until we find his parents."

"Yippee!" I yelled. "What's your name?"

The gorilla made a bunch of squeaking sounds.

"Ok… Let's just call you…Plushie."

"What kind of name is Plushie?" asked Sora.

"A good name. Now let's take him back to camp."

--

"What'd ya think he eats?" Goofy asks. Goofy had taken quite a liking to Plushie in the past five minutes, and was busily offering Plushie various different kinds of chocolate, all of which Plushie refused.

"Bananas," I told Goofy. "Duh."

"Gawrsh, that's right! I forgot….um…where do bananas grow?"

Donald whacked him hard with his staff. "On banana trees, doofus!"

"Oh yeah, a'hyuck!"

I sighed and took Plushie away from Goofy. Plushie immediately started to kick. I dropped him.

Plushie took off towards the forest. I soon saw him climbing frantically into a giant treehouse.

"Sora!"

"What?"

"Something's wrong with Plushie!"

"Well, where is he?"

"That's the point! He's gone! He ran up to that tree house."

There was the sound of a gunshot, and a shriek. A gorilla shriek.

"No…"

We dashed up to the treehouse.

--

Mr. Clayton was standing on the balcony in front of us, totally unaware that we were watching him from behind. He was aiming his rifle for Plushie and another gorilla.

"What's the big idea?" Donald's loud voice was actually good for something.

"彼を放っておきなさい!" I yelled.

"What a greedy man," the voice in my head mumbled.

"No…you don't understand!" said Clayton nervously. "I was only trying to….ah, yes, a snake slithered by, you see. Very dangerous, you know. I was only trying to save their lives."

"Sure you were," I said sarcastically. "Sheesh, you honestly think we believe you? I mean-"

"That's enough, Skyler," the voice in my head commanded gently. "I'd let you go on, but…I just don't want to provoke his anger."

"Erm…never mind," I said hastily.

--

"How could you do such a thing?" Jane asked hotly as we entered the tent.

"Now, Ms. Porter, as I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla."

"And we're supposed to believe that?" No one hurt Plushie and got away with it.

"You are not to go near the gorillas again!" Jane was obviously very upset.

"All because of one mishap? Come, now…"

Everyone, including myself, gave Mr. Clayton an angry glare. Jane cleared her throat loudly. Grumbling, Mr. Clayton exited the tent.

A few minutes later he stuck his head back into the tent.

"But, you see-"

"Chibbi!"

"Eh?"

With a flash of light, the Chibbi chased Mr. Clayton out of the tent. There was the sound of a gunshot, and then…an eerie silence.

"Skyler…I've got a bad feeling about this," mumbled the voice.

What am I supposed to do?

"Tell Sora."

"Sora…I think we should check it out."

"Ok…"

--

"Heartless!" Sora screamed.

--

Footnotes

"Leave him alone!"

--

Wow, that was a long chapter. Oh well, I guess it makes up for the long wait you people had to endure. Don't worry, the next one will come soon. I have a lot of ideas.


	7. The Keyhole

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, related characters, trademarks, etc. in any way, shape or form. However, I do own any kind of Chibbi, Skyler, Skyler's dark side…the list goes on and on…OH! I also own Plushie/Mysha, but I have no further use for her after this chapter… : (

Ok, I know you had to wait reaaaaally long, but it's finally here! Yeah, I had to brood for a while XD. Anyway, I was originally going to make the battle with Clayton a random contest, but that turned out to be waaaaay too weird, so instead we've got a math contest (special thanks to Skyler's "Fifth Grade Mathematics"). Yes, it's still slightly weird.

Also, numbers referring to the footnotes section (at the waaay bottom) have a forward slash in front since Fanfiction (don't own it!) erases asterisks and brackets -.-

--

"Look!" I cried. "They're after that gorilla!"

We charged into battle with the monkey-like Heartless.

"These Heartless…" muttered Sora. "They look like primates…"

"Well, of course they look like primates!" I shouted over the noise of battle. "They've been busy stealing primate's hearts!"

Then it struck me. What if Plushie was all alone because his parents had their hearts stolen? And where was Plushie now? Was he…?

"Plushie's ok," soothed the voice in my head. "As for Plushie's parents…well, I don't know. Just concentrate on fighting. FOR EXAMPLE, THERE'S SOMETHING ON THE LEFT!"

I pivoted left, Keyblade copy up to block any attack. I had turned just in time to block the swing of sharp, black claws. These Heartless were tough!

How long would I have to block these things? I wondered. There had to be _something_ I had learned about getting tired in battle…

--

_Flashback: 13-year-old Riku is teaching 7-year-old Skyler fighting techniques. _

"_So, remember," Riku says, "If you ever get tired, just let your opponent push you back, then kick forward, like this." Riku demonstrates._

_Skyler nods, though she thinks this will never be a useful tip._

--

So it _can_ come in handy, I thought. I allowed myself to be pushed back, then waited for the right moment. A Heartless was standing over me, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

I readying my legs, I thrust forward and pushed the Heartless back. While it was still startled, I whacked it with my Keyblade copy, and it was soon gone.

I looked around. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were staring at me.

"What?" I asked, becoming somewhat self-conscious.

"That was the last Heartless," said Sora. "We were watching you fight it."

"And you didn't help because…?"

"Well you were doin' sucha good job there. It didn't look like ya needed any help," said Goofy.

"Um….thanks," I said, though I really could have used some help.

--

"Well, was he there?" asked Jane. We were back in the tent, only Mr. Clayton was missing.

"No," said Sora sullenly. "We did find a bunch of Heartless, though."

"Oh…" Jane looked worried and angry at the same time. "I do hope he hasn't gone and gotten himself into some sort of trouble…He can be very greedy sometimes… Please make sure he doesn't do something stupid."

Upon Jane's request, we dashed outside. After fighting off another batch of Heartless, there was an extremely loud noise, then a scream.

Mr. Clayton's gun had gone off.

--

"Do you see him?" I asked. We were in the bamboo thicket where we heard Mr. Clayton's gun.

"Oh, yes, of course I see him," said Donald sarcastically. "Do you THINK I see him, genius?"

"Well, no, stupid!"

"Well," said Sora, wanting to break up the fighting. "I see _something_."

Lying on the ground was Mr. Clayton's pipe. Sora ran and picked it up.

"There's some ash in it," he observed. "Mr. Clayton's been smoking it recently."

"Does it have his spit on it?" I asked, cringing.

But before my question was answered, a cat jumped out of the bushes. And it was a very. Big. Cat.

--

"Sabor!" cried Tarzan, and rushed at the animal with his spear.

"What is _that?_" I asked, shocked. "A lion? A saber-toothed tiger? Someone give me a hint!"

"It's a leopard, genius!" shouted Donald, who was already frantically shooting fire spells at the animal.

I hacked at the animal, which was mostly dodging (with excellent agility) rather than fighting back. Once or twice he might have scratched one of us, but no more than that.

The bad things just kept coming. After "Sabor" was defeated, we heard a shriek coming from the tent.

"Jane?" said Sora, and we rushed for the tent.

--

Jane wasn't in the tent.

"Where's Jane?" Sora posed the burning question.

"What's wrong, Tarzan?" Goofy asked. Tarzan looked like he knew something.

"Something coming," grunted Tarzan. "Jane, danger. Jane near…near treehouse."

"Jane jis jin janger?" I slurred.

Sora gave me a disapproving look.

"What?" I asked. "It's hard to say."

Although he frowned, all the way to the treetops I heard him mumbling, "Jane is in danger," in several different ways.

--

"Tarzan!" cried Jane. We had found her at last.

"Are you okay?" I asked, bending down to reach her. She was huddled on the floor with Plushie and that other gorilla.

"Yes, we're fine," said Jane, attempting to stand up and brush herself off. Instead, she hit her head on a tree branch. "Ouch!"

The tree was in the way. Sora quickly cleared a path for her with a fire spell, then proceeded to question her.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Clayton came to the tent…" she muttered vaguely. "That's the last thing I remember."

"Clayton?"

"I knew this had something to do with him," said the voice in my head. "Quickly, the gorillas are trapped. You've got to help them!"

"Gorillas trapped. Turk, Mysha, ran," said Tarzan.

"We've got to help the gorillas!" exclaimed Jane, standing up and preparing to leave.

"Yeah," said Sora. "Come on, Skyler. Let's go!"

They left the clearing. I, however, stayed. I picked up the female gorilla.

"Mysha," I muttered. "That's your name, is it? Well, it's a better name than Plushie, I guess."

"Skyler!" scolded the voice in my head. "You've got to go!"

"Bye," I said quickly to Mysha, and I was off.

--

"No!" cried Sora. Mr. Clayton was and some Heartless were surrounding a gorilla.

Clayton turned around slowly. In his hand was his loaded rifle. He looked at us oddly.

"That's not a man," said the voice. "That's a Heartless."

"Clayton?" said Sora carefully.

"Not Clayton!" exclaimed Tarzan. He grunted something in gorilla, and then said, "Not Clayton!"

--

Clayton began blindly shooting at us with his rifle. We were able to dodge pretty well, but we couldn't get close to him. There was no way we could do any damage. We COULD have Donald do some magic with his staff, but then again, who trusts Donald?

The voice in my head was getting worried that eventually he would hit one of us, and that would rattle the others. He got REALLY worried when a bullet just narrowly missed my shoulder.

"This is hopeless," said the voice. "You've got to find some way to beat him. Challenge him to a duel or something. Yeah, that's it. Make a sort of…contest. Careful, though. He hates losing…"

"Clayton!" I shouted.

Clayton looked up from his shooting.

"What?" he said in a hollow voice.

"This is getting tedious. Let's have a contest instead."

"What?" said Sora. I gestured for him to keep quiet and just trust me.

Clayton lowered his rifle. "What is this all about?" he asked.

I made my Keyblade disappear. In its place, two computers materialized.

"We're going to be having a math contest," I announced.

"WHAT?" screeched Donald. "But you stink at math!" That has been Donald's opinion ever since I was giving coordinates for landing the gummi ship and instead of landing in the correct position, it had landed an inch from the parking space.

Ignoring him, I continued. "You know how to do math?"

Clayton nodded.

"Then let's go, then! Sheesh, you're kinda slow…"

Clayton slowly meandered over to the computer. I decided to add a microphone, as Clayton seemed very confused at the concept of a keyboard.

The rules were simple. We would take turns solving math problems and saying the answers clearly into the microphone. Only there was a catch. The problems got increasingly harder.

"2 times 8," read the computer screen.

"16," said Clayton in his new hollow voice.

"Correct," said the computer.

"6-a2," said the computer. "Solve the value of 'a.'"

"4," I said.

"Correct," said the computer.

--

The contest went on in this manner (I would fill you in on all the details, but that would make the chapter boring) until the computer asked Clayton to solve "9x2 +c."

"WHAT?" roared Clayton.

"Incorrect," said the computer. "The correct answer is D. The winner is Skiiler."

"Skiiler?" I said. "What?" /1

Clayton ignored my comment. "I can't lose…" he said desperately. "No one beats me…NO ONE!"

--

As Clayton reloaded his rifle, the wall behind him exploded, and he began to float up into the air. At first he looked at little confused, but then he accepted it as a cool power working to his advantage. Tarzan charged at him, but was stopped and somehow thrown back by the space below Clayton.

I summoned my copy of a Keyblade and Sora summoned his real one, and we began to attack. Clayton wasn't much of a problem- all he did was shoot his gun, which wasn't very accurate anymore, as the space below him wasn't very steady.

But the space below him was a problem. It was some sort of invisible creature- no, not creature…Heartless.

While Tarzan jumped up and hit Clayton, Sora, Goofy, and I attacked the invisible Heartless below him (which wasn't very easy). Donald stayed on the sidelines and cast healing spells or threw potions whenever we needed them (coward).

After taking some damage, the Heartless below Clayton fainted and became visible. It was an immense, chameleon-like creature, and Clayton had been riding on its back.

When the Heartless fell, Clayton lost all trust in it and jumped off. He ran around at shot at us with his gun, which wasn't very affective. We soon knocked him out.

Now it was just us and the Heartless, which had woken up, composed itself, and disappeared. Even without Clayton floating directly above it, it still wasn't too hard to find. Wherever it went, it kicked up huge clouds of dust.

The rest of the battle was pretty easy. Once the Heartless became visible again, it became dizzy and fell on Clayton. Clayton got mad and shot it. That did it. The Heartless was dead. Like the Heartless in Traverse Town, the heart this Heartless had held captive for who-knows-how-long was free at last.

--

The gorillas, including Kerchak, his "wife," Mysha, and Turk. Sora walked proudly over to Kerchak, as if Sora was the president about to sign a peace treaty.

Kerchak, however, didn't look like signing a peace treaty was on his To-Do list. When Sora was close enough to him, he picked Sora up and threw him onto a cliff that had been revealed when the wall behind Clayton had exploded. He then threw Donald, Goofy, Jane and me on the cliff.

Tarzan jumped up by himself.

"Tarzan, home," said Tarzan. He then took off into a cavern behind a waterfall. We followed him into an area where a blue light was shining.

Tarzan grunted that same "word" in gorilla.

"This is your home?" said Sora. "But that means…"

"These are the nesting grounds," I put in. Everyone looked at me. Suddenly self-conscious, I added, "I think."

"Huh?" said Goofy.

"The waterfalls…" muttered Jane. "They're echoing all the way here."

Tarzan grunted that word, then said "Friends there. See friends."

Jane smiled comprehensively. "Oh," she said. "Now I've got it. That word he's been grunting means 'heart.' Friends in our hearts…"

"Oh," said Sora. "So that's what it meant."

"Friends, same heart," explained Tarzan. "Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends."

"I see," I mused. "Clayton was a Heartless. He didn't even recognize us. All he cared about was winning that stupid math contest."

Sora turned to Donald. "Sorry about what I said before."

"I'm sorry too," said Donald.

"Sorry for calling you stupid," I said to Donald.

"Sorry for calling you a genius when I really didn't mean it and was really- oh, you know what I mean!"

"All for one and one for all!" said Goofy (rather loudly).

Goofy's voice echoed through the waterfalls. Sora's Keyblade emitted a blue beam of light, which went straight towards an area where some butterflies were resting. The butterflies fluttered away, revealing a keyhole-shaped opening. There was a locking sound, and everything returned to normal.

A little green ball dropped fell out from behind a rock.

"A gummi!" gasped Donald.

"But that's not the king's," said Goofy.

Donald picked it up and pocketed it. "Oh, well…"

--

"Hey, Skyler." It was Sora. We were walking back to the tent.

"Yeah?"

"You know, when you were fighting before, you looked a lot like Riku."

"What?"

"I'm just saying. You two have, like, the same fighting style or something. It's weird."

I tried to recall some of the battles that had taken place. When we were saving the gorillas, it was true that I had used that kicking technique. Was that it?

Then I remembered how I was wielding my Keyblade. I hadn't noticed at first. I was holding it near my shoulder, ready to lunge… to think I had done that without even noticing…creepy/2

--

"Well, guess we better get going," said Sora. We were back in the tent.

"Where is your ship, anyway?" asked Jane.

"Well, uh…not too far," said Donald.

"Sora, Tarzan, friends," said Tarzan.

Tarzan handed Sora a keychain shaped like a butterfly. The keychain began to float.

"What's this?" asked Sora.

The keychain snapped onto the end of the his Keyblade. There was a blinding flash of light, and the Keyblade looked…different. It was still shaped like a key, but it had what looked like moss growing on it, and the handle was made of bone.

And it was more powerful. I could feel it. We could all feel it.

"Wow…" said Sora. "Thanks."

--

"Can I drive?" Sora and I asked at the same time.

"No," said Donald.

"Hey!" said Sora. "I'm the Keyblade Master!"

"So?" said Donald. "It doesn't matter who you are. What matters is your age! Let me see your ID."

"My what?" said Sora, shocked.

"Hah," said Donald. "Just kidding."

"Hey," said Sora. "They gummi block we got from that keyhole wasn't like the others. Maybe it's for something different."

"Let's ask Leon," I said. "He'll know."

"Why?" asked Goofy.

"Because he knows _everything_," I scoffed. Leon was such a know-it-all.

--

Footnotes

/1- Computers always pronounce people's names wrong. ALWAYS.

/2- This is a reference to the way Riku holds his weapon when you have to fight him in Hollow Bastion.

--

Phew, it's finally done. Sorry for the delay, people. I've got some good ideas for the next chapter…better start writing it!


	8. Olympus Coliseum

Disclaimer: I own nothing that isn't mine -.-

Ok, the next chapter is here. All I ask is that you review more, and I will shower you with shiny items and chapters XD. Recently I've only been getting one review per chapter.

--

"Ok," said Sora determinedly as he arose from the huddle. He, Donald, and Goofy were debating which world to go to next.

Sora argued that we should go back to Traverse Town, ask Leon about the gummi blocks, and then leave again, as fast as that. "It wouldn't take any extra time," he had said.

"NO!" Donald had protested. "If we go back to Traverse Town, Leon's definitely gonna ask us how many worlds we've saved. And if we tell him two, he's gonna be all like 'We give you ALL this time and you only visit _two_ worlds? Some Keyblade Master you are…' We've gotta visit at least three."

Goofy had argued that, "Aw, gawrsh, Donald! Leon ain't like that!"

I had simply sat back and sipped away at some soda I found in the gummi ship's mini-bar. I was letting them pick my poison. Leon was always grumpy, and Yuffie was so hyper it made my head hurt. Then again, adventuring was almost as tiring as watching Yuffie bounce off the walls. Either way, I had it pretty bad.

"We're going to _one_ more world before we return to Traverse Town," Sora announced. Then he turned to Donald. "Just _one._"

"Fine," Donald replied. "One."

"But Leon wouldn't-" Goofy began. His comment was followed by a "NO!" from both Donald and Sora.

"So," I said. "Which world?"

"I'm not going to say anything," said Donald, who had obviously had enough arguing for the day.

"OK!" I screamed suddenly. "That one!"

"The little yellow one?" said Sora, pointing.

"Yeah, that one. Who's driving?"

Donald sighed. "It has to be me. If we let Goofy drive, we'll crash, and if we let Sora drive, he'll just go off looking for those other people."

"Riku and Kairi!" Sora and I screamed together.

"Yeah, whatever. So, anyway, Skyler can't drive because she's just a kid."

"HEY!"

Donald chuckled quietly. Then he sat down at the driver's seat and started the engine.

--

"What is this place, anyway?" asked Donald. We were standing in the middle of an immense plot of mildly dusty land. In front of us was a giant building bordered by two golden statues of warriors.

"It looks like one of those fighting places," mused Goofy.

"Coliseums!" Donald corrected.

"Oh! Right! Coliseums," said Goofy.

Donald sighed.

"Well, we should go in," said Sora. "Right?"

I nodded.

--

"Um…" said Sora. We were standing inside the Coliseum's lobby. A short, hairy man was fixing up a sign advertising the next tournament.

"Good timing," said the hairy man. "Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games."

Sora and I exchanged confused glances, but headed over to the huge pedestal the hairy guy had pointed to anyway.

"So…" I said. "He wants us to move it?"

"Yeah, I guess so," said Sora.

Sora leaned against it and pushed. The rock didn't budge.

"It weighs a ton!" he cried.

I tried pushing it too. "It won't budge."

"Well, that guy wanted us to move it," said Sora. "We have to help somehow."

"Hmm," I pondered. "Maybe it'll move more easily once it gets a taste of the Mystical Orbs…" I whipped out my Keyblade copy and whacked the pedestal as hard as I could.

The head of my Keyblade snapped off.

I gazed in shock at the pedestal for a moment, and then made my Keyblade disappear. I summoned it again. It was fully repaired.

"Ok…" I muttered to Sora. "Don't try that."

--

"It's way too heavy!" Sora said to the hairy guy.

"What?" said the hairy guy, still not looking at us. "Since when have you been such a little-" he turned around and saw us "-Oh. Wrong guy. What're you doing here? This here's the world-famous Coliseum- heroes only! And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pop-squeaks. Look, it's like this. Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum.

"You got heroes standing right in front of you," announced Donald proudly.

"Yup!" said Goofy. "She was chosen by the Mystical Orbs."

"And he was chosen by the Keyblade," said Donald. "We're all heroes!"

"Heroes?" said the hairy guy. "You runts?" He began laughing. "You _runts_? What kinda joke is this? Ok, ok," calmed his laughing. "Lemme get this straight: a dog, a duck, a kid, and a little girl are heroes. HA!" He began laughing again.

"What's so funny?" asked Sora.

"Yeah!" I put in. "We've fought a bunch of tough monsters!"

The hairy guy burst into laughter. "What? You guys? Heroes? HAH! I mean, if you can't even move this-" he began to push the pedestal "-you can't…call yourself…a hero!" However, the pedestal didn't budge.

"Okay," he admitted. "So it takes more than brawn. Well, let's see what you can do. I warn you though. The trial I'm gonna give you is tough. You got what it takes? You ready?

"YES!" screamed Sora at the top of his lungs.

"Hey," I added quickly. "Um…Mr. Short Hairy Guy? Wha-"

"It's Phil. Got that?"

"Um, ok, _Phil._ What kind of trial is this exactly?"

"A time trial. Each one of you has to smash each and every one of the barrels before the time runs out. When your done, run to your teammates. The next one in line should have his/her hand out. Slap their hand, and it's their turn."

Sora went first. Though it took a little bit of time running around and destroying each barrel individually, Sora passed and slapped my hand.

The method I used was quite different. I picked up one barrel and threw it at another, destroying both. Sometimes, if I was lucky, I hit two barrels instead of just one, destroying three. I beat Sora's time by about 30 seconds. Slapping Donald's hand, I took a seat next to Sora.

Donald went around and shot fire spells at each and every one of the barrels, but eventually, his staff ran out of power and he had to resort to smashing the remaining barrels by hand. His time was matched with mine.

Goofy (last but not least) threw his shield like a boomerang, cutting through several barrels at a time. At first, this method proved to be a better one than everyone else's, but then Goofy dropped his shield and couldn't find it. He resorted to running up to each barrel and kicking it until it broke.

Donald and I were tied, Sora was in second, and poor Goofy came in dead last. When we went back into the lobby, Sora was congratulating me, Donald and I were arguing, and Goofy was looking very confused.

"Wow," said Sora. "That was pretty good, Skyler."

"Thanks," I said. "Now, hold on a second. Donald, I'm telling you I WON! It was close but there was a millisecond's difference…"

"You're right," said Donald. "You took one millisecond longer than me! Therefore, I WON!"

"No, ME!"

"ME!"

"Gawrsh, guys. Stop it!" Goofy yelled out in frustration. All the arguing immediately stopped. "Aw, I don't get it," Goofy whined. "The numbers on that clock were bigger than everyone else's, but I lost. Shouldn't I win?"

Everyone looked at Goofy with pity. The poor dog couldn't even understand a time trial…

"Um…well…" ventured Donald, but he was quickly interrupted by Phil.

"Hmph. You kids ain't bad…for a bunch of rookies," he said with begrudging respect.

"YES!" exclaimed Sora, leaping up. He then pulled me up and gave me a high-five, then gave Donald and Goofy hugs. "Looks like we're headed for the games!"

"Sorry kid," said Phil. "Afraid not."

"What? Why not?" demanded Sora, his happy spirits dropping.

"Two words: You guys ain't heros."

"Uh…gawrsh," began Goofy. "That was four-"

"Oh, come on!" said Sora.

"You wanna become a real hero?" asked Phil. "Start by mastering this spell."

Phil handed Sora, Donald, Goofy, and me a small charm in the shape of a lightning bolt.

"What-" began Donald, but stopped abruptly as the charms floated into the air and disappeared in a flash of light.

"Ok," said Phil. "You heard me. GO MASTER IT."

--

"What's wrong, Donald?" I asked once we were outside the lobby. Donald was staring down at his staff unsurely.

"Well…it's just that…I feel…different somehow."

"What'd ya mean?"

Donald almost immediately resumed his grumpy attitude. "None of your business," he retorted, and walked firmly onward.

"Gawrsh, I feel fine. Maybe you're gettin' a cold, Donald, a'hyuk!" Chuckled Goofy.

"Goofy…!" squawked Donald, embarrassed about being fussed over in front of his rival. I grinned. "Goofy…you know I can handle myself!"

"Hmm…" put in Sora. "I dunno…I feel funny too."

"Exactly like me!" said Donald, shocked. "I just feel like…like…like I know…THUNDER!"

As Donald said those words, he held his staff above him and shot a beam of light into the sky. Dark storm clouds gathered overhead, and thunder rained down from the sky. And just as suddenly as the moment had come, it was gone.

"Woah!" said Donald. "That must've been the funny feeling! I can cast thunder spells! Sora, I bet you can do the same! Of course, Skyler's a little slow…"

"Am not!" I cried. "Watch this! THUNDER!" Holding my Keyblade copy above me, I cast the spell.

"And I can do it too!" said Sora, and he cast the spell.

"Hmph…" said Donald. "Well…Skyler, I bet you can't do this. BLIZZARD!" An icy snowflake shot past me. I had dodged it just in time.

"Rrr…" I muttered. "I so can cast that. BLIZZ-"

"Woah, woah, watch it," came a voice.

"Huh?" said Sora, turning around. Standing behind him was a tall man dressed in long robes with blue fire for hair.

"You guys watch it with the blizzard spells. You almost put out the hair, you know?" he said, pointing to his flaming hair.

"But, anyway," he continued. "That's beside the point. The point…is this." The man held out his hand and in a flash of blue flames, an entry card for the games appeared in his hand.

"A pass?" asked Sora in awe.

"It's all yours, kids. Good luck. I'm pulling for you."

--

DUN DUN DUN! Yes, this chapter is a page shorter than what I normally do (which is 7-8 pages, by the way. I work hard!), but whatever. What's a lost page between friends?


	9. The Consequences of Your Actions

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I own Skyler. And any kind of Chibbi. And Skyler's dark side…Does anyone read this anymore?

Ok! Chapter! REVIEW IT XD. showers heynamassu and kingdomheartser with shiny items and chapters Thanks for reviewing! …Hey, I did say that I would shower you with shiny items and chapters if you reviewed. XD.

--

"Hey, how'd you get this?" demanded Phil. We were back inside the Coliseum lobby, and Sora had just shown Phil the entry pass we had received.

"Does it matter?" I asked. "We can enter the games now, right?"

"…I guess so. Ready for the prelims? We start with the prelims!"

"Yeah!" said Sora. "Let's go, guys!"

"Alright," growled Phil. "Alright. Pike down, kid. Just a word of warning. Some real weirdoes signed up for the games. Watch yourselves, okay?"

"Aw, come on!" Sora yelled. "Just let us in!"

"Alright…fine, fine," said Phil, opening the gate that was barring us from entry into the Coliseum. "Just remember what I said."

--

"_Heartless!_" exclaimed Sora as we entered the first round. "_Heartless_ signed up for the Coliseum? That's not possible! They're…Heartless!" he yelled as we rushed into battle.

"Shut up and keep fighting!" I yelled to him as I dodged a Heartless's claw.

"Let's see how they like my magic!" cried Donald. "THUNDER!"

…

…

"Donald! YOU IDIOT!" I screamed at him. "NOTHING HAPPENED!"

"I told you that you shouldn't have entered the games without mastering that spell first!" cried Phil from the sidelines.

--

"Woohoo! You did it! You actually beat the first round!" cheered Phil. We were on our three minute break between rounds. "Look, kids, you guys ain't heroes yet, but you're not doing too bad! You're lucky you've got me for coaching."

"Hey, uh, who's that guy?" said Goofy, pointing to a man with spiky blonde hair, spiky enough to put Sora's hair to shame.

"Cloud," Phil replied. He whistled. "Something tells me he's a real tough one. Who knows, with my help, you might even end up facing him."

"What'd ya mean, 'with my help'?" I asked. "You haven't done a thing except try to hold us back!"

"Cool it, kid. Next round's starting."

--

"Say, you're better than I thought, kids," said Phil. We were victorious in the second and third rounds. "Beat the next round, and you fight Cloud. Don't expect to win, though. Like I said: he looks like a real tough one."

"We can beat anything!" I cried.

"She's right!" said Sora, holding the Keyblade up heroically. "I'm the Keyblade Master: a real hero!"

"Well," said Phil. "I wish _he_ was here to see you do all this 'heroic stuff.'"

"Who's _he_?" said Donald.

"Hercules. Now that's a hero if there ever was one. He's off visiting his father though."

"We're heroes too!" quacked Donald angrily.

"Yeah, yeah. Spare me," said Phil. "Your next round is starting.

--

"Wow, kids," said Phil with begrudging respect. "You actually made it this far."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Sora.

"Nothing. Now, you're fighting Cloud next, kid, so watch yourself. I'll be waiting on the sidelines with a white flag."

"Like we'll need it!" I said defiantly. "You'll see! Cloud's gonna be in the hospital when we're done with him!"

"Well, I hope not, 'cuz that's against the rules," said Phil. "Don't beat him too badly, kid."

"That's Skyler to you!"

"Yeah, whatever. Just get in there and fight."

--

"Why don't you just give up now?" said Cloud, once we were in the ring.

"We've come too far!" said Sora. "There's no way we'll give up now!"

"Fine then. I guess you'll just have to face the consequences of your actions."

There was an eerie silence. Cloud made the first move. He was surprisingly fast for someone carrying such a huge sword, and it caught Sora off guard. Sora stumbled and fell, giving Cloud the upper hand. As he began to deal the final blow on Sora, who was completely defenseless, Goofy threw his shield like a boomerang, and it hit Cloud square in the face. I helped Sora up, and Donald held Cloud off with a thunder spell.

Cloud slowly stood up from where he had been knocked back and regained his footing. He started at us in that eerily calm, then said (calmly), "So you think you've won?"

There was a pause.

"You think you've beaten me? Well think again. You have yet to see the true power of my darkness!" Cloud began to glow with dark colors as he started floating. Raising his sword, he flew around the ring, charging at every one of us. Donald and I were short enough to dodge it, and Sora jumped out of the way, but Goofy, being not only slow, but tall too, didn't see cloud coming.

"Goofy! Look out!" screeched Donald at the top of his lungs.

"What?" said Goofy, turning to face Cloud. "Woah!"

But Goofy was too late. Cloud knocked him back, and he lay on the floor, unconscious.

Cloud stood over Goofy, ready to deliver the finishing blow. "_This_ is the consequence of your actions," he said with a calm anger in his voice.

"Woah! Wait! Stop!" came Phil's voice. He ran into the ring, holding the white flag. "That's enough, Cloud. Give it a rest."

Cloud lowered his sword, gave an angry glance at Phil, and turned to face Goofy, who was still unconscious. "You got lucky," was all he said, and he stormed off.

--

"Is he gonna be okay?" I asked worriedly as Sora, Donald, and I gathered around Goofy. We had put him on a bed in the gummi ship.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. A lot of stuff…like this…happens to Goofy. He's the…King's Knight," choked Donald, though his voice was filled with worry.

"He oughta be fine if we just leave him alone for a while," said Sora, his voice fill of pity for Goofy. "Let's let him sleep."

As we headed out of the gummi ship, our thoughts on Goofy, we could never expect what was coming.

--

"Back for more?" asked Cloud. We were back inside the ring, ready for a rematch.

"You'll pay for what you did to Goofy," I said.

"Will I? Well, I guess you'll just have to-" Cloud never got finish his sentence. For at that moment, a giant, three-headed dog appeared seemingly out of nowhere and slammed his foot right on Cloud.

"CLOUD!" Sora cried, suddenly concerned about his enemy.

"One rule I forgot," Hades whispered from the sidelines. "Accidents happen."

"What're we gonna do?" I whispered to Sora. "We'll never defeat this dog without G-"

"Quick! You kids run. I'll hold him off!" came a voice.

"Hercules!" squealed Phil.

"Phil!" cried Hercules. "Get those kids out of here!"

--

Who…or what, was that? I asked the voice in my head. I hadn't talked to it in a while, and it basically didn't speak to me.

"Cerberus. Guard of the Underworld. Hades sent him to mess up the games and hurt you guys."

So Hades tricked us!

"That's right. You shouldn't have taken the pass. I tried to tell you, but I was blocked out by something…weird. I'm not sure what is was, but I'll take a guess…"

What do you think it was?

"…Darkness."

Darkness!

"I can't go anywhere near it. Can't say why. Same reason as-"

Why you can't say your name. I know.

"Anyway, listen up. Phil's making a…a speech."

"Herc should be able to handle that three-headed beast," Phil was saying. "Still…something doesn't feel quite right."

"Then we'll go in and help!" I said suddenly. Everyone stared at me. I had been silent for the past few minutes.

"…Can't we help?" I tried again. If there really was darkness in my heart, I was ready and willing to get rid of it.

"Skyler…" Sora began to try to stop me, then narrowed his eyes and frowned. "That's the spirit! Let's go!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" cried Phil. "You're not entering the arena, are ya? This ain't no match, this is for real!"

"We're not afraid! You hear my sister! You can decide if we're hero material or not."

"…Be careful, kid."

--

"Hercules!" cried Sora. Herc was standing in the middle of the ring with an unconscious Cloud slung over his shoulder.

"Herc, get Cloud to safety!" cried Phil from the sidelines. "These kids are gonna hold Cerberus off!"

"Kids!" I yelled. "It's S-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, just get in there and FIGHT!"

--

"We can't beat him…" I said sorrowfully. "Three heads, four legs…he's just too hard!"

"It's not that he's too hard," said Donald. "We're just one member short."

"Yeah, that's it…" said Sora, with a touch of remorse. "We need Goofy…"

"Hey, did someone call my name?" came a voice from the sidelines.

"Wha?" said Donald, turning to face where the voice had come from.

"It's Goofy!" Sora exclaimed happily.

"Gawrsh, guys, what happened?" asked Goofy, rubbing his head. "We were fighting a cloud, and then…I was getting married to Daisy…"

"What?" exclaimed Donald. "You were dreaming, you big palooka!"

"Oh! Right! That must be it. I was dreamin'."

"Well, now that your up," I called. "Why don't you come and help us with this giant dog?"

"Ok! Sure!" Goofy threw his shield out like a boomerang, and in seconds, Cerberus lay at our feet.

--

"Thus, I hereby dub thee 'junior heroes,'" Phil was saying. We were back at the lobby, being "rewarded" for defeating Cerberus.

"Hey!" screeched Donald. "What'd ya mean, 'junior heroes?'"

"You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a real hero!"

"Well, what does it take?" asked Goofy.

"That's something you have to find out for yourself," said Herc. "Just like I did."

"No problamo!" I said.

"Yeah!" said Sora. "We can start by proving ourselves in the games!"

"No can do, kid," said Phil. "There ain't gonna be any games for a while. Gotta clean up the mess Cerberus made…"

"Okay. We'll be back."

--

"Hey, are you alright?" Sora asked. We were outside the lobby, watching Cloud sulk on a bench.

"Yeah," he said simply.

"Why did you go along with Hades anyway?" asked Sora.

"I was looking for someone. Hades promised to help. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired." Cloud stood up. "I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light."

"You'll find it," Sora said cheerily. "I'm searching too."

"For your light? Don't lose sight of it."

"Hey, Cloud," I put in. "Why don't you come with us? We could look for our light together."

"I'll pass. I have to search alone…face the consequences of my actions."

Cloud handed Sora something. "Farewell."

--

"What is it?" I asked. We were back inside the gummi ship, crowding around Sora, trying to see what he was holding.

Sora unfolded his hand. "A charm?" I asked, looking down at the charm. It was shaped like a sword, rocketing through space.

"I guess so. Reminds me of the thunder charm, remember?"

"Yeah."

As if on cue, the charm floated up before us and disappeared in a flash of light.

"Strange…" said Donald. "I don't feel any different."

"Gawrsh, me neither," said Goofy. "Maybe it's only for Sora."

"…Maybe, but I feel like I'm not the only one who knows something new."

"What does it feel like?" I asked.

"I feel…like…like I know…Sonic Blade."

--

And that is my theory on how Cloud simply handed Sonic Blade to Sora (and how Phil simply handed a thunder spell to Sora). Anyway, see you next time in another exciting episode of…Kingdom Hearts RETOLD!


	10. Keyholes, Gummi Blocks, and Summon Gems

Disclaimer: I own nothing Kingdom Hearts. I own Skyler. And any kind of Chibi. And Skyler's dark side. Oddly enough, I don't even own the voice in Skyler's head (we haven't seen a lot of him/her/it lately).

Welcome back, loyal fans XD. Enjoy the next chapitaire! -showers kingdomheartser and heynamassu with shiny items and chapters- Thanks for the review!

--

"So…I guess we head back to Traverse Town now, right?" I asked, sitting down in the gummi ship.

"That's right. We gotta find out what that weird gummi block is," chortled Goofy.

"Yeah. Hold on a second. Don't drive yet." I turned to Sora and leaned close to him. "Hey," I whispered. "I need to talk to you."

"Not now, Skyler."

"No, it's important…"

"I'm busy begging to drive!"

"Why do you always push me away like that?"

"…Fine, what do you want?"

"It's about-"

"Sora!" came Donald's voice. "I won't let you drive, but…you can be in charge of looking out for Heartless ships…"

"Woohoo!" whooped Sora, and he rushed off to the cockpit.

--

"Oh! HI!" squealed Yuffie as we walked through the world gate. "You guys must be here to see Leon, right?"

"Yeah," said Sora. "Where can we find him?"

"Oh, he's in his secret training spot…behind the waterway. But don't tell him I told you, or I'm dead meat…"

"We won't," said Sora.

--

"Hey, how'd you get here?" Leon asked. He was taking a break from his training. Aerith was with him. "The only people who know this place are Aerith and me."

Apparently, he didn't know that Yuffie knew it too. "Uh…a friend told us," said Goofy.

"Hmph," said Leon, obviously knowing it was Yuffie, but preferring not to make a fuss.

"Anyway, I heard you found a Keyhole," he continued.

"Yup," said Sora. "In two worlds. They Keyblade locked them automatically."

"Good," said Aerith happily.

"Every world among the starts has a Keyhole," said Leon, lost in thought. "And each one leads to the heart of the world. There must be one in this town as well."

"W-what do you mean?" asked Sora unsteadily, though I knew he knew exactly what they meant. He had read it in "Ninth Grade Science."

"We read it in Ansem's report," said Aerith.

"The Heartless enter through the Keyhole and do something to the world's core."

"What happens to the world?" asked Sora.

"In the end…" said Aerith, "It…disappears."

"WHAT?" screamed Sora, Donald, and Goofy. I remained silent.

After several years of leafing through Sora's schoolbooks (out of pure boredom), I was pretty well-informed about other worlds."

"And it's seen in the form of a disappearing star," I put in sadly. "Sora…that day we were chucked off the island…when we landed here…I-I saw…" I couldn't get the words out.

"A star disappearing," said Sora. "I know. I saw it too."

"B-but…It probably wasn't our world!" I said, trying to be cheerful. "I mean, what are the odds of it being our world? About one in a million, I think."

"Heh, yeah," said Sora. "No reason to worry!"

Then, the voice in my head spoke. "I wouldn't recommend telling Sora, but…it was. Ou- I mean, your island was swallowed."

Swallowed…? By what?

"By…the darkness."

Is there any way to get it back…?

"I…I don't know…"

Oh…well, why shouldn't I tell Sora?

"He needs to stay cheerful. If you tell him, there's a risk that he might…um, break…"

Oh…I see.

I stifled a laugh. Sora was strong-hearted…but a little sensitive none the less.

--

"Please seal the Keyholes," said Aerith. "That way, the Heartless can't get in."

"You could also look for your King and your friends along the way," tempted Leon.

"Then let's go!" I said, holding my Keyblade copy heroically.

"She takes after her brother," Goofy chortled to Donald. Donald snickered.

"Hey!" I yelled at them, but they continued to laugh together.

"You three…quit goofing around!" said Sora, though he was smiling too. "We're forgetting something." He held up the gummi block we had found in Wonderland.

"Leon," said Sora. "This gummi block is different from the others. Do you know what it's for?"

There was a long pause. Leon was probably ashamed to admit that he didn't know.

"Go ask Cid," Aerith said, saving Leon the embarrassment. "Cid should know."

"Ok," said Sora, and we started to leave.

"Wait," said Leon suddenly. "Take this with you." He handed Sora a small gem. "This stone hold some sort of mysterious power. I've been carrying it for luck. I want you to hold onto it."

"How do you use it?" asked Sora.

There was a long pause.

--

"What've you got there?" asked Cid as we walked into the Accessory Shop, hold the gummi block in plain sight. "Well, if it ain't a gummi block.

"Yup," said Donald, handing Cid the gummi block.

"What's this one for?" asked Goofy.

"You're kiddin' me!" Cid exclaimed suddenly. "You're flyin' a gummi ship and you don't know nothin' about navigation gummis? Bunch of pinheads. Interspace ain't no playground."

"There's a lot we don't know," Sora admitted angrily. "So what? We have to use the gummi ship to go to other worlds. We don't have a choice."

"Yeah," I put in. "And it's not like we have time to go to Gummi Ship School or something!"

"Woah, easy," said Cid. "I didn't know. No hard feelings, all right? Well, I guess I could lend y'all a hand then."

"Thanks," said Sora, though he was still angry.

"Basically, with navigation gummis, you can go to new places. You want one on your ship, right?"

Donald and Goofy nodded.

"I'll install it for you. But I got this thing I gotta go deliver first."

"What do you need to deliver?" asked Sora.

"Just this book. It's real old," Cid held up the book. "When the guy brought it in, it was practically falling apart. Too beat up to restore to the way it was. But overall, I did a decent job puttin' it back together. Anyway, you mind deliverin' it for me? It's the old house past the Third District. Look for a big fire sign."

"Ok," I said, taking the book. "Well, we'll just be-" The room shook once and a bell sounded.

"Wh-What was that?" Sora asked. "Skyler, you aren't kicking the counter, are you?" he said, half joking.

"That's the bell at the old gizmo shop ringing," explained Cid. "Go check it out if you want, but deliver that book for me first. When you're done, stop by the house in the Third District. I'll be there."

--

"So," I said, looking at the large fire-themed tapestry in the Third District. "This must be it, huh?"

"Yup," said Sora, pushing the tapestry aside and entering. "Let's go."

"Gawrsh," said Goofy, looking around the cave behind the tapestry. "Kinda musty in here, ain't it?"

"Heh. Reminds me of that cave at home, remember?" said a voice.

"Huh?" I said, slightly confused. I turned in the direction of the voice. Standing there was a ghostly image of…

"Riku…? Is it…is it really-"

"Hey, Sky! Pull yourself together; we have to get going!" came Donald's voice.

"AH! DON'T CALL ME THAT! Sky is a boy's name, how many times do I have to tell you?" I screamed back. Then I realized I had been distracted. "Riku?" I said, turning back to where I had seen him. He wasn't there.

As Donald and Goofy went on ahead, Sora and I lingered behind.

"Riku…?" I muttered under my breath. "Huh?" Suddenly I snapped to attention. At the same time I had said "Riku," Sora had said "Kairi." We were both looking at each other with shocked expressions on our faces, but before we could say anything, we heard Goofy calling.

"Hey! Sora! Skyler! We gotta deliver this book, remember?"

"Huh? Oh, right!" said Sora, and we scrambled to catch up.

--

"There's no way to get in…" said Sora sadly. We were standing near the boarded-up house in the center of the cave, obviously the home of the book's owner.

As if on cue, there was an immense explosion. Dust and debris flew everywhere. I heard Sora, Donald, and Goofy coughing, as well as my own coughs.

When the dust cleared, we saw a huge hole in the house wall, occupied by an old man with a long white beard. He was wearing long blow robes and coughing from all the dust.

"Well," he said, seemingly talking to himself. "That Firaga spell didn't go exactly as you planned, did it, Merlin?"

"Merlin?" Donald squealed, suddenly very excited. "That's one of the greatest wizards in the world!" He rushed up to the old man. "Do you know where he is? Is he here?"

The old man started to chuckle. He pointed to himself. "That would be me. I believe you are one of my many fans?" He chucked some more. "Well, why don't you all come inside…I suppose I could eh, how do you say, magic-up some tea for you? Er, well, it actually tastes better when it's hand-brewed…"

--

"I am a sorcerer, as you can see," said Merlin. We were sitting in his house, sipping some tea.

"I spend much of my time traveling. It's good to be home…though, I seem to have blown a hole in my wall with that spell…"

"Isn't your house kind of…empty?" I commented, looking around the room, which was bare, except for the table and chairs we were sitting in.

"Ah, yes, that reminds me."

Merlin stepped into the middle of the room and pulled out a small bag. "Presto!" he called, and emptied the bag's contents onto the floor. There was a bright flash, and in an instant, the room was full of Merlin's possessions.

"Now, back to what I was saying," said Merlin, once again taking a seat at the table. "Donald, Goofy, your king has requested my help."

"King Mickey?" asked Goofy.

"Yes, indeed. He told me all about you, Donald, Goofy," he said, nodding at them respectively. He turned to Sora and me. "And who might you two be?"

"I'm Sora," said Sora. "And this is my little sister, Skyler."

"Sora," I muttered, jabbing him in the elbow. "I'm old enough to introduce myself…"

--

"So you have found the key," said Merlin, after hearing of our past adventures.

"What did the King ask you to do?" asked Donald.

"He asked me to train you in the art of magic. We can start anytime you like. Just tell me when your ready to begin."

"Right here and now!" I said, slamming my tea cup on the table and standing up. True, Donald bested me in magic, but with a little training, I had the ability to be much better than him.

Merlin jumped. "Oh, oh, eh, simmer down now. I've one more thing to tell you."

He led us over to a small carriage model. There was a flash of blinding light, and suddenly, a plump woman was standing in front of us.

"Hello," she said. "I'm the Fairy Godmother. Your king asked me to assist you as well. Anytime you need me, I'm h- Oh, my!" The Fairy Godmother looked suddenly startled. I noticed she was eyeing Sora's pocket.

"What's wrong?" asked Sora nervously.

"Oh, the poor dear!" the Fairy continued to fret. "Quickly, give me the summon gem!"

"Summon…gem?" Sora said cautiously. Donald gave Goofy a "this lady is nuts" look, and Goofy returned Donald a "what's that?" look.

"The gem you received from Leon!" cried the Fairy Godmother in exasperation. Sora handed her the gem, and she held it up for us to see. "This is a summon gem. It was once a living creature, but its world was consumed by the darkness. But this creature had such a strong heart, he turned into a gem instead of a Heartless."

"Is there any way he can come back?" I asked.

"Only as a spirit. Here, now watch this: Bibbity Boppity Boo!" She tossed the summon gem to Sora, and he tried to catch it, but before it could land in his hand, it disappeared in a flash of light. We heard a loud roar, and that was it.

"He will come to aid you whenever you call him," the Fairy Godmother explained. "Now, I believe you have a delivery for Merlin?"

"Oh!" said Sora. "That's right. The book. Merlin, this was from Cid."

"Ah, yes, from Cid. Thank you. It's not even my book, you know. I found it in my bag one day. It was such a curious book, and in such a sorry state of disrepair, but I was sure Cid's skills could fix it, but it's still missing some pages. Those missing pages unlock the mystery. Look at it whenever you like. My best regards to Cid, and that will be all."

--

"So, I guess we can find Cid in the vacant house over there, right?" I said, pointing. But Sora and the others had no time to respond. In a flash, the Third District had Heartless coming out of every nook and cranny, too many for only three people to take.

But then, just as soon as they had appeared, the Heartless were gone. If you had blinked, you would have missed it.

And standing there, where the Heartless had once stood, was a person we all knew very well. Standing right in front of us was…

--

-sob- I'm sorry! This is a cliffhanger if there ever was one. If this is not a cliffhanger, then you may attack me with bad television shows. But if the chapter got any longer, it wouldn't fit on the website, sooo, ya know. Anyway, enjoy the long wait until the next chapter! XD


	11. Apologies All Around

Disclaimer: I own Skyler, Chibbis, and Skyler's dark side. Nope, nothing else. No Sora, no Riku, nor anyone else in the chapter. Except Skyler.

Hey, y'all! After a summer of lazing off, chatting on forums, and learning to draw manga, SCHOOL IS BACK! –fireworks and confetti in the background- And with school comes…HOMEWORK! –fireworks and confetti disappear- The reason I haven't updated in so long is because if I took two seconds off from homework to breathe I would have been up until midnight doing homework! Oh yeah, and I had a cold.

--

"Riku!" I cried, and ran to hug him. He looked a little startled when I flung my arms around him, but happy none the less.

"It's you…It's really, really you!" Sora squealed, and ran over to Riku. He stopped, however, a foot away. "It _is_ you, right?" he said, tugging at Riku's mouth.

"Hey, cut it out!" Riku said and pushed Sora away. We all laughed.

"Where's Kairi?" Sora asked, suddenly worried.

"Wasn't she with you?" Riku asked, but quickly shoved it off. "I'm sure she's fine too. Maybe she's looking for us right now. We can finally explore other worlds…" Riku drifted off.

"I've got this whole thing under control," Riku said proudly. "Just leave it to-"

"R-Riku!" I cried! "Behind you!" Riku swiveled around just in time to see that a Heartless had appeared behind him as was preparing to steal his heart. Riku saw it, but he wasn't prepared, and probably wouldn't be here today if Sora hadn't stepped in with his Keyblade.

"Leave it to who?" Sora said heroically, slinging the Keyblade over his shoulder.

Riku's eye twitched. "Sora, how did you-" he began.

Sora put a hand on my head. "We've been looking for you and Kairi too, with their help." Sora gestured to Donald and Goofy.

"Who are they?" asked Riku.

"Ahem," began Donald. "My name is-"

"Stupid," I filled in for Donald. He glared at me.

"We've visited so many places and worlds, looking for you," Sora said sincerely.

Riku's eye twitched again. "Really? Well, what do you know? I never would have guessed."

"And guess what?" Goofy chimed in merrily. "Sora's the Keyblade Master! Who would've thought?" He gave a meaningful look at Donald.

"Oh, right," Donald said in a monotone. "Skyler can wield the mystical orbs. It's not that great, but-"

"Donald, shut up!" I hissed.

"So…" Riku said slowly, holding up Sora's weapon. "This is called a Keyblade?"

"H-how'd you do that?" asked Sora, looking around for his Keyblade. "Give it back!"

"Here. Catch." Riku backed up and tossed Sora's Keyblade in the air. Sora ran forward and caught it. "Ok," he said. "You're coming with us, right? We've got this AWESOME rocket, wait 'til ya see it!"

"Hey can't come!" Donald squawked angrily.

"What the- How come?" I yelled back. "Riku's our friend. We've known him all our lives!"

"I don't care!"

"Gawrsh," Goofy said suddenly. "He's gone."

"Huh?" Sora asked, looking around. I hung my head in sorrow. So close…but then Donald had to chase him away…

"Nice going," said Sora. "But…at least we know he's okay. And who knows? We may run into Kairi soon, right Skyler? …Skyler?" Sora looked over at me. I didn't respond. I was still sulking.

--

"Man, she's still sulking!" Donald screeched. We were standing outside the small house that Cid said he would meet us in.

Goofy frowned and elbowed Donald. "Huh?" he said, and looked at the dog. Goofy gave him a serious look. Donald sighed and turned to me.

"Skyler…" he began. "Look, about what happened to Riku…" the volume of his voice dropped considerably. "I'm…I'm sorry."

"W-what…?" I grinned but kept my head down, enjoying the moment.

"I said I'm sorry, okay? So lighten up!"

I grinned even more. "Say it again!"

"No!" Donald growled and turned his back on me. "I knew it was a bad idea…she'll never let me forget this!"

--

"Look at you two!" yelled Cid. We were inside the small house in the Third District that he had been waiting in, along with Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith.

"Fighting like little children!" Cid separated Donald and me with his…muscular…body. "If you keep this up, people are gonna think you're under _her_ control."

"Who is _she_?" Sora asked curiously.

Cid blinked. "You've never heard of Maleficent?"

The four of us shook our heads.

"A witch, man!" Cid yelled passionately. "She's a witch! And if you keep fighting, people are gonna think something's up! So calm down, ok?"

"Ok," I said, bowing my head. Then I got an idea and grinned. "I'm sorry."

Donald bowed his head too, but no words came. There was an awkward silence. Everyone looked at Donald expectantly.

"I'm s-" Donald began, but stopped abruptly. "Wait!" he said, lifting his head suddenly and pointing an accusing finger at me. "I'm onto your tricks! You just want me to say _it_ again, don't you?"

"Say what?" I asked innocently.

"Say 'I'm sor-' Wait! Oh, no you don't! You horrible, evil little…child of Maleficent!"

There was a collective gasp, then silence for a few minutes.

The Leon simply said, "She's the reason the town is full of Heartless. Don't take her lightly."

"We lost our world, thanks to her," Aerith added.

"That was nine years ago," Leon continued.

"I got out of that mess and came here with these guys," Cid said, pointing at Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie.

"I'm so- I mean, unhappy to hear that," said Donald warily.

"Our ruler was a wise man named Ansem," said Leon. "He dedicated his life to studying the Heartless."

"Yeah, I know," I said, somewhat sarcastically. "And he wrote it all down somewhere and now the pages are scattered. That's the way it is in movies, anyway," I added with a shrug. Then I smiled. "But seriously, where're his writings?"

"Um…" Cid, Leon, and Aerith said, with meaningful glances at each other.

--

"So, you delivered the book? That navigation gummi's installed and ready to go. You find another one? You bring it to me. I also threw in a warp gummi for the heck of it." He showed us a picture of another odd-looking gummi block. "With it, you can jump to other worlds you've been to before." He turned to leave. "I'd better get back to my _real job_. What's my real job? You'll see if you meet me in the First District."

"I've been thinking about the bell in the Second District," Aerith added.

"The one that rang a while back?" asked Sora.

Yuffie nodded. "The one above the gizmo shop. It's all boarded up though. No one can get to it. There's a legend about it, you know. They say that whoever can ring the bell can save the world from the Heartless."

"Heck, go check it out," Cid said. "Ring it three times, then report to me if anything happens." And with a wink, he left.

--

Sora whistled. "I guess Maleficent is a pretty strong term," he said. We were outside of the small house, walking toward the bell. "Better not use it too often." The comment was, of course, directed at Donald.

Donald sighed, not in exasperation, like he had before, but an honest, sad sigh. "Skyler," he said, "I'm sorry."

I could see it in his eyes that he meant it. And I forgave him.

--

I'm sorry for the shortness of this chapter! It's so much shorter than what I normally do…two pages shorter, actually. But didn't have anymore ideas, and everyone was getting hungry for chapters, updates, and Tempura shrimp, so I was forced to update! –gasp- Anyway, enjoy the long wait for the next chappie!


	12. MP and Bells

Disclaimer: I own nothing KH. But I own Skyler. And every Chibbi. So BACK OFF, LAWYERS!

AHH!!! Chapter!!!! Late as always -- I've been accepting ideas from other people, so forgive me if it doesn't really sound like me…it probably will though. I'm good at taking ideas and altering them…because I'm awesome! –strikes a pose- Just kiddin'.

Just lemme tell ya, I have an excu- er, I mean, _reason_ for being late this time. I got sick again. And I was following mah famous motto: "The fastest way to get something done is to just do it. The best way to get something done is to procrastinate."

LOL! Heehee.

--

"Wow," Sora said in awe, looking at the boards blocking us from the bell. "They weren't kidding when they said it was boarded up."

"Gawrsh," Goofy sadly agreed. "How're we going to get in?"

I smiled maliciously at Donald. "Step aside," I said haughtily. Sora and Goofy stepped out of the way. Donald stepped back as well, but slowly.

I summoned my Keyblade copy and concentrated on the wall, imagining it lighting on fire. Perhaps that would help. I pointed my Keyblade at the wall and yelled "FIRE!" at the top of my lungs.

I quickly recoiled from the wall, expecting a massive explosion from the fire. When nothing happened, I opened my eyes. There was no fire. All that had come out of my Keyblade copy was a pathetic puff of smoke.

"W-what?" I said, confused.

"You're low on Magic Power," came a voice. "That happens sometimes."

A ghostly image of Donald's favorite wizard appeared next to us.

"Merlin!" Donald squealed in delight.

"Yes, hello, Donald," Merlin said dismissively. Donald looked like he was going to faint from happiness.

"Now, Magic Power is what fuels your magic- the fire, the ice, the thunder- everything. You must be running low on it. That happens when you're tired. Now, there's two ways to restore your Magic Power. One way is to rest for a day, but obviously you don't have time for that. What you should do is drink an Ether. Ethers are special potions that will restore your power. I believe Donald has some. Donald?"

"Yes sir!" Donald piped happily and handed an Ether to me. I drank it and recoiled at the taste.

"_Now_ try," he said, stepping (or floating) backwards.

Concentrating once again on the wall, I pointed my Keyblade copy and yelled "FIRE!"

A massive ball of fire flew from the tip of my Keyblade. The boards quickly burned away.

"My work here is done," said Merlin with a smile, and his image faded away.

Donald squealed. "Isn't he cool?"

I rolled my eyes.

--

"So, this must be the bell, huh?" Sora said, examining a large brass bell. He paused. "Well…guess we should ring it then."

"Yeah," I said.

There was a silence.

"Well, go on," I said. "Ring it!"

"…No, you can have the honors," he said nervously.

"What's wrong? You scared?" I teased. Then I saw the serious expression on his face and stopped.

"It's just…" He looked down, then up, then to both sides. "I can't shake the feeling that someone's watching us. Me, particularly."

"You're a wimp!" Donald cried.

Goofy took a moment to glare at Donald, then turned to Sora sympathetically. "I'm sure no harm can come from just givin' it a ring or two." He elbowed Donald sharply. "Right, pal?"

Donald made a low growling sound.

"See?" Goofy said cheerily. "Ol' Donald agrees with me! Go on, give it a ring!"

Sora reluctantly stepped forward and put his hand on a rope coming out of the bell. He gave it a tug and the bell swung to the left with a sharp clang. When nothing bad happened, Sora gained confidence and gave it two more rings.

I looked around, disappointed. "Nothing," I said simply.

"Don't be so sure of that!" Goofy squealed happily. "Look down there at that fountain, a'hyuk! I'd reckon that'd be a keyhole!"

"…Yeah, I guess you're right," Sora said, slightly unsure. We made our way down to the Second District where the fountain was.

--

"See?" I said. We were standing in front of the glowing keyhole, waiting for Sora to seal it. "No trouble at all. Just seal it and we can be on our way. …Seal it already! C'mon, Sora, what's up with you?"

"Nothing…" he said, and took out his Keyblade, preparing to seal the Keyhole.

That's when it happened. We all really should have paid more attention to Sora's worries. We really should have.

Remember the walking giant suit of armor?

--

I'm a bad girl. Shortness, lateness, and suspense. Forgive me. In other news, happy Halloween! The chappie was a little rushed, but I wanted it to be a treat for Halloween…otherwise, who knows how many reviewers would prank me?


	13. Heartless and Happiness

Disclaimer: I am really not in the mood for typing it. IdonotownKingdomHeartsIjustownSkylerandtheChibbisthereIsaidit. Haha! Spell check has no spelling suggestions! -sticks out tongue at spell-check- Oh, and I'm pretty sure I don't own spell check…I think o.O

NOOO! I have been bombarded with schoolwork! History project, Science project, English project…when will the insanity end? And four misquito bites too. All over my face. I itch. ;.;

--

Perched on top of a high building above the fountain was the giant suit of armor from our first visit to Traverse Town. For a moment, time seemed to stop. Donald, Goofy, and I were absolutely shocked. For once in his lifetime, Sora was actually _right_. It was unbelievable.

But we only had time to marvel for a moment, for the giant suit of armor leaped off the building and landed directly in front of us. If Donald was capable of making a high squeaking noise, he would have. But he didn't.

Sora's voice immediately filled the air. "We did it once, we can do it again! Let's take this guy down!"

I jumped aside a swipe from the armor's claws flew inches in front of my face. "And how are exactly are we supposed to do that?"

"We throw New Year's confetti and drop a decorated ball on his toe!" Sora called out suddenly.

Donald, Goofy, and I stared at Sora blankly. "A'hyuk?" Goofy finally managed.

"Nothing," Sora said as he was nearly crushed by the armor's foot, but deflected it with the Keyblade.

One by one, we destroyed the Heartless's parts, starting at the bottom and working up. After each part was gone, it would burst into a pile of energy orbs. However, throughout the whole fight, something was bothering me. I wasn't sure what it was, until I heard the voice in my head warn me of what was to come.

"It's gotten stronger now," the voice said, referring to the Heartless. "It won't go down as easily as last time."

"Yippee for us," I muttered gravely, then whacked the armor's torso with my Keyblade copy. It burst into energy orbs. Now only the head was left.

"Skyler!" Sora screamed over the noise of battle. "Do that Chibbi thing!"

I hesitated. The voice had warned that this time the armor was stronger. Would a tiny living art project do it in a second time?

My Keyblade copy disappeared. As if sensing what I had planned, the two Mystical Orbs flew up above the armor's head and hovered there for a moment before spinning like they normally did when creating a copy of something.

There was a blinding flash of light, one even brighter then when I would summon my Keyblade copy. Then, when the light dimmed, a giant, shining, mirrored ball that must have weighed at least 125 pounds was in the place of the Mystical Orbs.

Right on top of the armor's head.

There was a crash, and the armor was done in for sure. I smiled as Donald, Goofy, and Sora gawked at my work. "Happy New Year," I said under my breath.

--

Sora, after recovering from his state of shock, stumbled over and put his arm around me. "That was clever thinking…" He paused for a moment, and then grinned wider than ever. I hadn't seen him grin that wide since we had met Donald and Goofy and Donald had explained that their ship ran on happy faces.

"It really was clever thing…" he continued, his grin broadening. "Good thing I came up with it!"

"_You_?" I laughed sarcastically. "You suggested we throw confetti and have a New Year's party! In the middle of July!"

"Well, it's been about a year since I've had a party. I…" Sora suddenly drifted off. I fell silent as well. Both of us had realized that as the Keyblade master and the Wielder of the Mystical Orbs, we had had no time to ourselves to do what we liked. Ever since we'd left the island, we'd been either fighting Heartless, sealing Keyholes, bickering with Donald and occasionally Goofy, and, if we had a little time left over, looking for our friends.

"Come on, Sora," I said quietly. "Let's go seal that Keyhole."

"Right," he said, just as quietly. "Let's go."

But just as the voice in my head had predicted, the armor wouldn't go down so easily.

--

All Sora had time to do was take one step forward before the Heartless, which was currently a pathetic pile of green energy orbs, slowly formed together and recreated the monster we had worked so hard to defeat. Only this time, it was different.

The Heartless seemed completely disoriented, probably from being defeated once already, and was therefore unable to put itself properly back together. What had been the armor's arms were placed where his legs should have been, and give versa. Lastly, the visor protecting where whatever-was-inside-the-armor's face would have been flipped upwards, revealing two glowing yellow eyes.

Despite its clumsy appearance, the transformed Heartless was much stronger then the original. Its arm-feet clawed at us as they stomped, and when the foot-arms swung back and forth, they were bigger and heavier, causing more damage if they hit.

"Skyler!" Sora called out to me as he drank a potion, healing his injuries. "Do that New Year's thing again!"

"No can do, Captain!" I called back in a half-joking way while dodging a claw-stomp. "I'm too tired!"

"You mean using the Mystical Orbs takes _energy_?" Sora gasped, swatting at and missing the Heartless. "But using my Keyblade doesn't cost me a thing, except for some arm-ache from swinging it around!"

"Yes it does!" I said. "When you use _magic_ it does, you melee-freak!" I was fustrated. Now was no time for explaining about MP (he should have been listening when Merlin explained anyway), and his obliviousness made me very angry.

"What'd you just call me?" He called back angrily, and lost focus. He stumbled backwards, narrowly missing a swipe/stomp. He fell on his back, and before Donald, Goofy, or I could help him, the armor tipped over sideways (kind of like a teapot), and crushed him with its foot/arm.

"SORA!" I screamed, running his unconscious body. "No…" Sorrow rushed through my body, straight to my fast-beating heart. "No…Sora…can't…"

Donald was next to me in a second. "Sora…" He managed, then stood up, tears burning through his eyes- I could see.

"CURE!" he screamed, and a cure spell was cast on Sora. We waited for a second, but he didn't move. "Oh, Sora…" Donald sobbed.

Goofy, who had been distracting the Heartless while we grieved, was the last to come over. "Gawrsh, we gotta make him better!" He said with the usual slur, but his cheeriness was gone. "This is the best I got," he murmured softly, then took out a potion and poured it in Sora's mouth.

Still no reaction.

A scream was heard in the background, and Donald and Goofy turned around, realizing that the Heartless was terrorizing a young couple sitting nearby. They immediately rushed to save them, abandoning my lifeless brother.

"Sora," I whispered, fishing through my pockets. "Please come back now. We need you." I sob escaped my mouth. "The Keyblade Master can't die!"

I finally found what I needed- my only high potion that I had received as a gift two years ago, back on the island.

--

_Flashback: Skyler is eight, Sora is 12, Riku is 13. Skyler is kicking an upright log, trying to get her kick right. One time, she kicks too hard, and she and the log fall over. Her face hits the rough sand, and, exhausted from training and injuries, starts to cry._

_Hearing her sobs, 13-year-old Riku runs to her, turning her on her back. He wipes her tears and calms her down, until her sobs have been reduced to meek whimpers. Finally, he fishes through his backpack to find a high potion, and pours a few drops for Skyler to drink. She gulps it down and immediately feels better._

"_You can have it," Riku says, handing her the remaining liquid._

_Skyler smiles shyly, almost blushing. "Really?" she asks quietly._

"_Really." Riku smiles, then turns around and begins to walk home. Skyler stays and watches him walk away, but then suddenly, he stops. _

"_To tell the truth," he says, "I have about 20 more at home."_

_The feeling that she has been given something significant and important goes away, and Skyler storms home, angry._

_--_

_Later, at dinner, Skyler shows Sora and her mother the gift she received from Riku. Her mother brushes it off with "Oh, that's nice," but Sora immediately gets angry, jealous of his little sister._

"_How come Riku always gives you cool free stuff? You're just a little girl! I'm his best friend!" Sora complains._

"_Maybe to him, you're just a little boy!" Skyler fights back, shielding the glass vial holding the high potion from Sora's grabbing hands._

"_Ugh," Sora finally says, giving up. "You're such a snobbish little brat."_

--

I regretted that after-dinner fight now more than ever. Tears streaming down my cheeks, I pulled the cork out of vial that had always held the high potion and poured the rest of the liquid in Sora's mouth.

"You always wanted it, didn't you, Sora?" I said sadly, quietly. "I'm so sorry. You probably deserved it more…"

I call for help quickly called me away from my unconscious sibling. I ran over to Donald and Goofy to help them defend the couple from the Heartless.

--

As soon as I laid eyes on the armor, all my sorrow for Sora immediately turned to rage. I _hated_ the Heartless for killing him, _hated_ the Heartless for taking away my only family, _hated_ it for everything that happened, even things that it didn't do.

It took only minutes for me to completely destroy it.

"Skyler…" came a quiet murmur, and I realized it was the voice in my head, which sounded very disappointed.

What? I thought back hotly.

"There's a terrible darkness brooding in your heart." The voice sounded very worried. "It's growing every second. You've got to calm down _now_."

How can I be calm? I replied, still angry. My brother is _dead_.

"Go back and check on your sibling. You may find he's…overdosed with potions and cure spells."

What? I was confused, but I ran back to where Sora's body was, bringing Donald and Goofy with me. Sora's body was no longer on the ground, where I had left it, but standing on a bench, jumping up and down.

"Sora…you're alive!" I said happily, running to hug him.

"Of course I am!" he said heroically, swinging his Keyblade. "Would muscles like these ever die?" He grinned.

I groaned. Same old Sora.

"Why do you always have to go and worry everyone?" I demanded. "We thought you were dead!!!"

Sora looked at me blankly. "Dead…?" He grinned wider than seemed physically possible. "How could I be dead? I feel great!!! Like someone gave me a potion, a high potion, and even a cure spell! But then again, how's that possible?"

I groaned. Thinking he was in critical conditions, Donald, Goofy, and I had overdosed Sora with cure medications, and now, with all his energy and more restored, he was going to be unusually hyper for about 12 hours.

However, I forced a smile. "Sora, I know a way you can get rid of that excess energy…" I tempted.

"Howhowhow?" Sora said, bouncing around.

"Go seal that Keyhole!"

Sora ran over to the fountain.

--

Watching the flashing lights of the Keyhole being sealed, all the anger and sorrow inside me that was creating the darkness faded away bit by bit. No matter what happened- Sora faking death, Donald being Donald, Goofy…well, y'know- I would be happy to be with this (slightly dysfunctional) family of friends.

--

Wow…I haven't updated for 2 months! Since HALLOWEEN! Fortunately, this is a nice, long, 6-page chappie, so…Merry/Happy Belated Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanza!!! And Happy New Year!!! I got it here just in time…and I got an A on all those projects I mentioned.

And to all those people who follow my website: Hah! I told you I could do it before '07!


	14. Jiminy Cricket's New Home

Disclaimer: I the first time in several months, I don't own Kingdom Hearts (hey, that sorta rhymed!!!). I own…everything that I've owned so far! And…other stuff…What other stuff? Um…I DON'T KNOW!!! WHY ARE YOU PRESURING ME?

It has been…Well, I don't know how many months…It was since DECEMBER!!! And it is now JUNE of the NEXT YEAR! XD Anyways, I is not dead, I was simply taking a…hiatus, of sorts. But now I is BACK! XD Enjoy what you've waited so long for! I promise I'll try to make it worth your wait!

--

"IsealeditIsealeditIsealedit!" screamed Sora, bouncing up and down. "What now? What nownownow? What n-"

Sora stopped in mid-sentence. The color drained from his face, and he swayed from side to side for a moment.

I waved my hand in front of Sora's face. "Traverse Town to Sora!" I called. He simply stared into space. It was like yelling at a brick wall. "Hello? Is anyone in there?"

Suddenly, Sora simply fell down. He hit the concrete with a loud "thud" and didn't make any effort to get up.

My concern for him rushed back, and immediately kneeled down and shook him. Confused and worried thoughts flew through my mind at a mile a minute. Was it bad to give someone to many potions/cure spells? What if he was poisoned from the overdose? Did we need to get him to a hospital?

Donald and Goofy obviously shared my concerns, for they were kneeling beside Sora as well, trying to revive him. Donald was viciously slapping his face, and Goofy was slowly peeling up his eyelids.

"Gawrsh," said Goofy, examining Sora's eye. "He looks really tired, a'hyuk!"

"Tired?" I said, puzzled. When Goofy let go of Sora's eyelid, I examined his face. He was smiling peacefully and breathing heavily. "I've never seen Sora sleep _this_ deeply. I mean, he was pretty lazy back at home, but he's never slept like this before."

"He's exhausted all the energy he got from the potions and cure spells," explained the voice in my head. "He'll probably sleep for the rest of the night. Maybe you should take him to the hotel on the Second District. He'll be fine by tomorrow morning."

…Won't we have to protect him from Heartless? I asked.

"Unfortunately…"

And you can't help with any of this?

"Nope."

Thought so…You're just the disembodied voice in my head.

"Not in your head. In your heart."

--

"Gawrsh," said Goofy. "You think he's got a conconcious?" We were in one of the rooms of the Second District hotel, watching Sora sleep peacefully. Donald, Goofy, and I were covered with bruises and scratches, but Sora was untouched. The Heartless didn't take it easy on us just because we had a wounded teammate.

"Got a what?" I asked Goofy.

"A conconcious!"

Donald shot an exasperated look at Goofy, and then turned to me. "He's trying to say-" Donald stopped. "Why should I tell you?"

"Because he's _my_ brother. I need to know what Goofy thinks is wrong with him."

"A conconcious, a'hyuk!" Goofy cried.

"Nope, no way I'm tellin' you!" Donald said triumphantly. "You'll have to figure Goofy out for yourself!"

"Why?" I asked, angry and confused.

"Well, if you really want me to tell you…" Donald said slyly, "Then you'll have to say…you're sorry!"

"Sorry? For what?"

"For everything, you evil child of Malefi- I mean, you jerk!"

"No thanks! I'll just figure out Goofy myself! Goofy, what'd you think Sora has?"

"A conconcious! You know, a conconcious is like…a conconcious! Donald knows what a conconcious is! A conconcious!"

Donald was becoming very annoyed with Goofy's seemingly made-up word. He glared at Goofy, and I thought that he would explode if Goofy said "conconcious" one more time.

"Donald, it's a conconcious!" whined Goofy, wishing someone knew what he was saying.

"You mean a concussion, you big palooka!" Donald screamed, almost waking up Sora.

"Oh, a concussion! Thank you, Donald!" I said sweetly, and then climbed into bed. "G'night, everyone."

--

"Hey, that was an awfully clever way of getting Donald to tell you what Goofy meant!" came a voice. I sat bolt upright and looked around. Everything was dark, and Donald, Goofy, and Sora were fast asleep. "Who are you?" I asked the voice.

"Getting straight to the point! I like that about you, Skyler. You've got character."

"Huh?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake! You can't see me, can you? I always hated being small!"

There was a rustling near Donald's hat, and then the voice spoke again.

"Can you see me now?"

I shook my head, and then realized that it was too dark for anyone to see anything. The voice seemed to realize that, too.

"How about now?" A tiny cricket in a suit was standing proudly in front of me, illuminated by the light of a flashlight.

"Jiminy! Why didn't you _tell_ me that it was you?" I asked, bewildered. "And where have you been all this time? I haven't spoken with you since I first met Donald and Goofy!"

"Oh, I've been living under Donald's hat for quite some time now. I bet the others have all forgotten about me by now. I've been rather quiet, but I've been recording our adventure in my journal! Here!"

He handed he a tiny notebook no larger than my pinky fingernail. I cautiously opened it.

"Jiminy, the writing is so small! How do you _do_ it?"

"Never mind that. The point is, Donald's hat is becoming…cramped. I'm looking for a change of scenery. I'd like to live in your pocket!" He made it sound like I had won the lottery. I said nothing.

"Oh, don't think it would attract any unneeded attention!" Jiminy said. "I think the others have all forgotten about me."

In the bunk above me, Sora rolled over. "Jiminy Cricket…Donald's hat…journal…" he murmured in his sleep.

Jiminy cleared his throat. "So, what do you say?"

I thought for a moment. I was exhausted, and I knew that Jiminy would keep annoying me if I didn't agree to his…housing arrangement.

"Okay, fine," I said.

"Oh, goody!" Jiminy practically squealed. "I promise I won't be a bother. You just go on with life, and you won't even notice me! I'll be so quiet, I'll-"

"Let me go back to bed before I squash you!" I said, annoyed.

"O-okay…"

--

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!" came a scream. "Skyler! Skyler! Wake up! This is an emergency!"

Groggily, I opened an eye. Jiminy was bouncing up and down on my stomach. He looked extremely worried.

"What?" I asked, my voice tired and hoarse.

"Your pants! They have no _pockets_!" shrieked Jiminy. "We have to go the Accessory Shop right away!"

"What about the others?"

"What others?"

"Sora, Donald, and Goofy!"

"Oh, them. I already woke them up. This is an emergency! Quickly! Before they close!"

"Jiminy," I said, looking at the clock on the wall, "It's only 8:00 AM. The store isn't going to close for another twelve-"

"Hurry! Pleeaaassseee!!!!"

--

"Well, well, as I live and breath. If it isn't Pinocchio!" exclaimed Jiminy. We had just entered the Accessory Shop, and before I could even ask the new store owner (Cid had gone to work as a gummi ship engineer) if he sold pants, Jiminy had spotted a small wooden puppet-boy sitting near the fireplace.

"Oh. Hi, Jiminy," said the puppet.

"What in the world are you doing down here?" Jiminy demanded.

"Um…playing hide-and-seek!"

"I just don't believe it. And here I was, up all night, worried sick about you!"

Up all night worried sick about him? He was up all night worrying if my pants had pockets!

"Why of all the-" Jiminy stopped mid-sentence. "Pinocchio!"

Pinocchio's nose had grown several inches.

"Pinocchio!" exclaimed Jiminy. "Are you telling me the truth?"

"Yes!"

"Then tell me, what is this?" Jiminy pointed to a small box that Pinocchio was hiding behind his back.

"It was a present!" Pinocchio insisted.

"No fibbing, now! You know you're not supposed to tell lies. A lie only grows and grows, 'til you get caught! Plain as the nose on your face!"

"But if you want something, why wait? Why not just take it?"

"Oh, my! Who told you that? You need some advice from your conscience!"

"That's right! You're my conscience, Jiminy! I'll never tell lies as long as you're around."

Pinocchio's nose shrank and returned to normal length.

"You need to be good so you can become a real boy. You promised Geppetto you would be, right?" Jiminy coaxed.

"Oh! Do you know where Father is?" Pinocchio suddenly questioned.  
"He's not with you?"  
"Jiminy, let's go find Father!"  
" Now, hold on! There are all sorts of dangers and temptations out there!" Jiminy scolded. "You're telling me," I muttered, but Jiminy didn't hear. Many of the bruises and scratches from defending Sora from the Heartless the previous day had not healed.

"I'll go find Geppetto, so you just wait here. These fellows here will be helping me." Jiminy continued.

"We will?" Sora suddenly blurted out. He had been too tired to realize that he was being volunteered before it was too late.

"Well, shall we go, Sora? Oh, Skyler, are you done buying the pants yet?"

"You could have asked us first," Sora whined.

--

"Oh, these pants are very nice!" squealed Jiminy, who was in the pocket of the new pants I bought. I was wearing my normal blue shirt with my new pants. They were similar to my old ones, which were plain white pants, but these new ones had four pockets (one on the right side, one on the left, and two in the back), as well as too many buckles, clasps, and zippers to count.

"Hey, I thought you said you'd be a quiet guest!" I hissed to Jiminy. We were in the gummi ship, trying to decide who would drive.

"Sorry," said Jiminy, and slipped into my pocket.

"Donald," I said, ignoring Jiminy. "I have a proposal."

"Aw, phooey! Again?"

"Yeah. So listen. I'll let you pick the next world if you let me drive."

"Oh yeah?" challenged Sora. "Well, I'll let you pick the next _five_ worlds if you let me drive!"

"NO!" shouted Donald. "I have to drive! Both of you are too young!" He smiled slyly. "But…thank _you_ for letting me pick the world!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

--

Well, it ish over. The chapter, I mean. I know, this one was sort of pointless…especially the conconcious part…I think this chapter was more of a filler than anything else…nothing really happened, except the Pinocchio part, because I needed a way to lead up to that. I hadn't mentioned Jiminy since Chapter 3, and I couldn't make him just "appear" in that Accessory Shop scene…Oh well. Next chapter, I promise, something will actually happen! -fireworks and confetti- Don't worry, you won't have to wait as long this time…probably. I actually have an idea for the next chapter. –more fireworks and confetti appear along with little Hawaiian drinks with mini umbrellas sticking out- YAY! –grabs a drink- A toast to…my aliveness!


End file.
